m 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 
WILLIAM  P.   WREDHJ 


THE     DOVE     SERIES. 


LITTLE  ANIMALS 


DESCRIBED 


FOR  LITTLE  PEOPLE. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  "  TRUE  BTOBIE9  FOB  LITTLE  PEOPLE.' 


WITH  FOUR  ENGRAVINGS 


NEW  YORK: 
SHELDON     AND     COMPANY. 

BOSTON  :    GOULD    AND    LINCOLN. 

1870. 


THE   DOVE   SERIES, 

IN  LARGE  TTPE,  WILL  EMBBACB 

THE  DOVE,  AND  OTHER  STORIES, 
GREAT  THINGS  DONE  BY  LITTLE  PEOPLE, 
LITTLE  LILLA;  OR,  THE  WAY  TO  BE  HAPPY. 
LITTLE  ANIMALS  DESCRIBED  FOR  LITTLE  PEOPLE, 
LITTLE  FACTS  FOR  LITTLE  PEOPLE, 
TRUE  STORIES  FOR  LITTLE  PEOPLE. 


7f/ 


CONTENTS. 


p 

RATS            

-       20 

j 

BATS            

-       51 

\ 

THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  CODSIX 

-       88 

s 

DEAR  OLD  PUSS  -          •          •          •  -  -      147 


INTRODUCTION. 


DID  you  ever  think  how  all  things  in  this 
beautiful  world  of  ours  speak  to  us  of  God,  of 
his  greatness,  of  his  power,  of  his  wisdom, 
of  his  knowledge,  and  of  his  love?  When 
you  see  the  high  hills,  the  taljl  trees,  and  the 
rolling,  roaring  sea,  do  you  not  feel  very  sol- 
emn, and  think  how  great  He  must  be  who 
made  all  these  things  ?  Do  you  not  wonder 
at  his  power,  and  wish  you  could  understand 
more  about  it  ?  , 

I  am  sure  you  must  have  often  done  so; 
and  when  you  see  that  the  ground  is  all  dry 
and  hard,  and  the  plants  all  withering  in  the 
hot  sun,  and  that  then  just  when  it  is  so  much 
wanted  the  rain  begins  to  fall,  and  everything 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

once  more  looks  fresh  and  green ;  you  see  in 
this  His  wisdom  and  love  in  providing  food 
for  all  His  creatures.  I  think  you  must  have 
often  noticed  these  things ;  or,  if  you  have  not, 
I  am  sure  you  must  be  one  of  those  little  peo- 
ple who,  though  they  certainly  have  got.  eyes, 
yet  do  not  seem  to  know  how  to  use  them. 
There  are  many  such  little  folks  in  the  world, 
and  it  is  not  impossible  that  some  of  them 
may  read  this  book.  If  they  do  I  hope  they 
will  find  out  that  one  very  good  way  of 
using  their  eyes  is  in  looking  round  on  the 
little  animals  God  has  made,  and  trying  to 
find  out  some  of  the  wonderful  and  curious 
things  about  them.  Seeing  the  beautiful  and 
perfect  way  each  little  creature  is  made  will 
teach  you  something  about  God,  about  his  wis- 
dom and  love ;  it  will  teach  you  that  he  whose 
power  is  so  great  that  he  can  build  up  moun- 
tains, can  make  the  thunders  roar  and  the 


INTRODUCTION.  T 

lightnings  flash,  and,  when  it  pleases  him,  can 
still  them  with  a  word;  that  he  who  is  so 
great,  so  mighty,  has  taken  as  much  pains  to 
make  the  little  squirrel  fit  for  the  life  it  is  to 
lead,  or  to  prepare  the  tiny  mouse  for  its  work, 
as  if  they  were  the  most  important  creatures 
in  the  world. 

Yes,  everything  that  God  does,  he  does 
beautifully ;  and  it  is  that  you  may  see  and 
'admire  his  works  that  I  want  you  to  open 
your  eyes  very  wide  and  look  about  you. 
And  then,  besides  learning  from  little  animals 
the  love  and  wisdom  of  their  Creator,  we  may 
learn  many  other  lessons  from  them  as  well. 
The  Bible  tells  us  to  "  go  to  the  ant  and  con- 
sider her  ways " ;  to  see  how  industrious  she 
is,  and  how,  though  she  is  a  feeble  little  crea- 
ture, she  lays  up  food  in  the  summer-time  to 
be  ready  for  the  winter,  when  she  knows  she 
shall  not  be  able  to  find  any. 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

That  is  one  reason  why  we  should  watch 
the  ways  and  habits  of  God's  tiny  creatures  ; 
but  there  is  another  still. 

I  sometimes  see  little  children  who  seem  to 
think  that  the  life  of  a  little  insect,  of  a  but- 
terfly, or  a  moth,  for  instance,  is  of  no  conse- 
quence ;  that  it  does  not  signify  at  all  whether 
we  hurt  or  kill  them,  or  what  we  do  to  them. 
Perhaps  they  think  such  little  creatures  can- 
not feel ;  if  so,  they  are  very  much  mistaken. 
These  tiny,  delicate  things  are  very  tender, 
and  very  easily  frightened ;  and  if  you  knock 
them  down  or  catch  them  suddenly  in  your 
hand  you  have  no  idea  how  much  pain  you 
may  give  them.  Now,  it  is  God's  command 
that  we  should  be  tender-hearted  and  kind 
one  to  another ;  and  I  am  sure  that  little  chil- 
dren that  are  really  kind  and  tender-hearted  to 
each  other  will  not  be  cruel  and  hard-hearted 
to  God's  little  creatures. 


LITTLE    ANIMALS. 


LITTLE  MICE. 

SPHERE  is  a  little  verse  in 
^  the  Bible  that  I  am  very 
fond  of,  and  I  should  like 
you  to  look  for  it  and  read  it. 
It  is  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of 
St.  Luke,  and  the  sixth  verse. 
I  daresay  you  have  read  it 
before,  but  perhaps  you  have 
never  thought  much  about  it ; 
so  now  I  will  tell  you  wrhy  I 


10  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

like   it  so  much,   and  then  I 
think  you  will  like  it  too. 

It  tells  us  that  though  we 
think  the  little  sparrows  that 
fly  about  us  every  day  such 
worthless  things,  that  though 
we  take  so  little  notice  of  them, 
yet  God  never  forgets  even  one 
of  them.  He  knows  all  about 
every  little  sparrow  in  the 
world;  he  knows  where  they 
live  and  everything  they  do, 
how  long  they  have  been  in 
the  world,  and  when  they  will 
die ;  and  he  not  only  knows  all 
about  them,  but  he  thinks  about 
them  too.  He  gives  them  the 


LITTLE  MICE.  11 

food  they  want,  and  has  taught 
them  how  to  build  their  little 
nests,  and  how  to  take  care  of 
their  little  ones. 

Now  I  think  it  is  so  nice  to 
know  that  the  great  God  who 
made  the  world,  and  all  that  is 
in  it  —  the  great  sea,  the  high 
mountains,  and  the  beautiful 
rivers  and  valleys  —  that  he  is 
so  kind  and  so  loving,  that  he 
thinks  about  the  tiniest  crea- 
tures he  has  made,  and  cares 
for  them  as  much  as  he  does  for 
the  immense  elephants,  whales, 
or  any  of  those  great  creatures 
that  astonish  you  so  much. 


12  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

And  the  more  we  know  of  the 
little  animals  that  we  see 
around  us,  the  more  we  shall 
wonder  at  the  beautiful  way  in 
which  they  are  made,  and  the 
more  we  shall  see  how  good 
and  kind  that  God  must  be  who 
has  created  them  each  for  some 
particular  purpose  and  end. 

There  is  one  little  tiny  ani- 
mal that  you  must  all  have 
seen,  for  he  lives  in  our  own 
country,  and  runs  about  in  the 
houses,  in  the  meadows,  in  the 
cornfields,  and  in  the  woods. 
You  know  what  I  mean,  I  dare- 
say :  it  is  the  little  mouse. 


LITTLE  MICE.  13 

We  will  talk  about  it  first,  be- 
cause you  know  more  about  it 
than  you  do  about  some  of  the 
other  little  animals.  But,  per- 
haps, you  have  not  all  seen  the 
smallest  and  prettiest  kind  of 
mouse  there  is.  It  is  the  one 
that  lives  in  the  cornfields,  and 
builds  its  little  house  among' 
the  corn.  It  is  a  dear  little 
fellow,  all  brown  except  its 
breast,  which  is  white ;  but  if 
you  want  to  see  it  you  will 
have  to  be  very  sharp  and  keep 
your  eyes  very  wide  open,  for 
it  is  a  timid  little  thing,  and 
would  be  sure  to  run  away  and 


14  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

hide  itself  if  it  saw  you  looking 
at  it. 

The  harvest-mouse,  as  it  is 
called,  lives  on  corn  chiefly  ; 
but  it  is  very  fond  of  insects 
for  a  change,  especially  flies, 
which  it  eats  very  greedily. 

This  little  creature  has  some- 
times a  very  large  family  of 
little  ones ;  sometimes  it  has 
as  many  as  eight  little  baby 
mice  to  take  care  of;  but  I  am 
sorry  to  say  she  is  not  always 
very  kind  to  them. 

A  gentleman  who  was  very 
fond  of  watching  little  animals, 
had  once  a  little  mouse  given 


LITTLE  MICE.  15 

to  him,  and  in  order  that  he 
might  keep  it  safely,  he  had  a 
little  cage  made  for  it.  In  a 
few  days  his  mouse  had  eight  lit- 
tle children  —  nice  little  things 
she  thought  them,  I  daresay, 
though  perhaps  you  would  not, 
for  they  had  no  soft  hair  like 
their  mother,  nor  bright  eyes 
like  hers,  but  were  quite  blind 
when  they  were  first  born.  At 
first  the  old  mouse  seemed  very 
fond  of  the  little  tiny  creatures, 
but  she  soon  got  tired  of  them, 
and  then  what  do  you  think 
the  naughty  mother  did  ?  She 
really  began  to  kill  her  little 


16  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

children  :  was  it  not  cruel  ? 
So  the  gentleman  took  them 
away  from  her,  for  if  she  did 
not  love  her  little  ones,  she  did 
not  deserve  to  have  them  at  all. 

Perhaps  you  think  that  when 
she  found  they  were  taken 
away  she  would  be  very  sorry 
she  had  been  so  cruel,  and  would 
want  to  have  them  back  again. 
Oh  no ;  she  soon  forgot  all 
about  them,  and  was  very  hap- 
py, climbing  about  her  cage, 
and  hanging  by  her  tail  from 
one  of  the  wires. 

She  had  a  piece  of  flannel  for 
her  bed,  and  some  grass,  which 


LITTLE  MICE.  IT 

she  arranged  very  cleverly  be- 
tween the  folds  of  her  flannel  so 
as  to  make  it  soft  and  quite 
comfortable,  like  a  feather  bed  ; 
and  then,  when  she  had  put 
her  house  to  rights,  she  seemed 
quite  happy  and  contented. 

I  will  not  tell  you  any  more 
stories  about  their  bad  habits 
and  their  naughty  tricks,  such 
as  eating  each  other  when  they 
are  hungry  and  cannot  find  any 
food ;  I  think  it  is  much  nicer 
to  find  out  something  about 
their  busy  and  industrious  ways 
of  gathering  together  food  for 

the  winter. 
2 


18  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

The  little  mice  you  see  in 
the  house  are  not  obliged  to 
lay  up  any  stores  for  the  win- 
ter, for  they  live  on  crumbs 
and  the  good  things  they  find 
in  the  store-room  when  every- 
body has  gone  to  bed,  and  they 
can  venture  out  to  look  for  it ; 
but  the  other  mice,  which  live 
in  the  fields,  know  that  when 
the  fcnow  is  on  the  ground  and 
the  cold  weather  has  come, 
they  will  not  find  any  corn  or 
berries  for  food,  and  that  unless 
they  wish  to  die  of  hunger  in 
the  winter,  they  must  get  some 
while  they  can  find  it,  arid  keep 


I  LITTLE  MICE.  19 

it  till  they  want  it.  You  see 
they  are  prudent  little  animals ; 
but  did  you  ever  think  how  it 
is  that  the  little  mouse  knows 
that  it  must  do  thi$  ?  It  is  God 
that  puts  it  into  the  little  crea- 
ture's head ;  it  is  the  great 
God  who  says  in  the  Bible  that 
not  even  a  single  sparrow  can 
fall  to  the  ground  unless  he 
wills  it ;  it  is  he  who  gives  to 
the  little  mouse  the  food  it 
wants,  and  teaches  it  to  keep 
it  for  the  winter. 

If  you  live  in  the  country, 
and  are  near  any  cornfields,  you 
should  see  if  you  cannot  dis- 


20  LITTLE  ANIMALS.  !    , 

cover  any  of  the  nests  of  the 
little  harvest-mouse,  and  then 
you  can  watch  it  gathering  to- 
gether the  grains  of  corn,  and 
carrying  them  off  home  and 
heaping  them  up  in  its  little 
store-room ;  I  am  sure  if  you 
did  so  you  would  be  very  much 
astonished  to  see  what  a  deal 
of  work  it  gets  through,  just 
because  it  never  says,  "  I  can't," 
that  silly  word  that  little  chil- 
dren are  so  fond  of  using,  and 
that  so  often  means,  "I  don't 
intend  to  try." 

Perhaps  you  will  say  mousie 
never  has  such  difficult  things 


LITTLE  MICE.  21 

to  do  as  you  have.  Wait  a 
minute  :  I  am  not  sure  of  that. 
There  are  some  little  mice 
living  in  Iceland  that  are 
obliged,  like  the  harvest-mouse, 
to  store  up  food  for  the  win- 
ter time ;  and  the  food  which 
they  collect  is  not  very  easily 
found.  It  is  a  kind  of  a  berry 
which  does  not  grow  every- 
where ;  and  sometimes  to  get 
enough  they  have  to  swim 
across  wide  rivers  and  take  very 
long  journeys.  It  is  quite  easy 
for  them  to  swim  across  these 
rivers  when  they  have  nothing 
to  carry;  but  when  they  are 


22  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

going  to  return  home,  and  have 
all  their  berries  to  bring  with 
them,  what  are  they  to  do  then? 
I  am  sure  if  the  mice  asked  me 
what  they  had  better  do,  I  do 
not  think  I  could  tell  them. 
But  they  do  not  need  to  ask 
any  one  ;  they  soon  make  up 
their  minds  what  to  do. 

A  number  of  them,  perhaps 
seven  or  eight,  choose  a  flat 
piece  of  dry  earth,  on  which 
they  pile  all  their  berries,  mak- 
ing a  high  heap  of  them.  Then 
they  bring  their  dish  down  to 
the  river,  pushing  it  with  all 
their  might  right  into  the  wa- 


LITTLE  MICE.  23 

': 

ter,  and  when  it  is  afloat  they 
all  get  on,  sitting  in.  a  circle 
round  the  heap  of  berries,  with 
their  tails  hanging  into  the 
water,  and  these  they  move  so 
as  to  guide  their  funny  boat 
across  the  river. 

Would  you  ever  have  thought 
of  such  a  capital  plan  ?  No,  I 
am  sure  you  would  not.  But 
I  do  not  think  the  mice  would 
ever  have  been  able  to  do  such 
a  clever  thing  if  they  had  not 
been  very  patient  and  very 
persevering. 

Suppose  you  take  these  little 
creatures  for  a  pattern,  and  try 


24  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

in  everything  you  do  to  be  as 
hardworking,  industrious,  ,and 
patient  as  they  are.  Shall  I 
tell  you  how  you  can  do  this  ? 
I  think  there  are  many  ways. 
Sometimes  a  little  person  gets 
out  of  bed  in  the  morning,  and 
wrants  to  be  dressed  very  quick- 
ly, and  then  nurse  says  he 
must  wait,  because  she  is  dress- 
ing little  brother  or  sister.  But 
somehow  or  other  it  is  very 
hard  to  wait.  Then  think  how 
often  the  little  mouse  has  to  be 
patient,  and  try  to  be  so  too ; 
or,  if  it  should  happen  that  a 
lesson  is  very  hard  and  long, 


LITTLE  MICE.  25 

remember  the  little  Iceland 
mice,  and  how  hard  they  work 
to  feed  their  little  ones;  and 
never  let  it  be  said  that  these 
tiny  creatures  are  more  indus- 
trious and  patient  than  you 
are. 


RATS. 

)N  our  last  chapter  I  told  you 
something  about  a  very  tiny 
animal,  the  little  mouse, 
and  in  this  I  think  you  shall 
hear  a  little  about  a  creature 
which  is  something  like  it, 
though  much  larger,  the  Eat, 
It  is  not  a  very  pretty  animal, 
is  it?  Few  children  are  very 
fond  of  either  rats  or  mice,  and 
sometimes  they  are  very  much 
afraid  of  them. 

But,  perhaps,  when  you  have 


RATS.  27 

heard  something  about  them 
you  may  change  your  mind, 
and  begin  to  take  an  interest 
in  them.  I  hope  you  will,  for 
if  you  do,  I  should  not  be  at  all 
surprised  if  you  were  to  find 
out  something  very  curious  and 
interesting  about  them.  You 
would  never  think  that  a  crea- 
ture like  a  rat  could  have  any- 
thing like  sense,  would  you  ? 
It  does  not  look  as  if  it  had 
much,  and  yet  God  has  given 
to  this  little  animal  a  great 
deal  of  cleverness,  so  that  it 
finds  out  all  sorts  of  odd  ways 
to  get  at  anything  it  wants, 


28  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

and  seems  quite  as  quick  and 
wise,  perhaps  quicker  and  wis- 
er than  some  little  people  I 
know. 

Shall  I  tell  you  of  a  funny 
trick  some  clever  rats  played 
an  old  lady  once  upon  a  time  ? 
This  old  lady  had  put  away  in 
her  store-room  some  bottles  of 
sweet  oil,  which  were  packed 
up  in  a  large  box,  each  one  be- 
ing neatly  covered  up  and  fas- 
tened. For  some  time  no  one 
wanted  these  bottles,  and  no  one 
thought  about  them ;  but  one 
day  a  servant  was  sent  to  fetch 
one,  and  then  she  found — well, 


RATS.  29 

what  do  you  think  she  found? 
Why,  ,she  found  that  the  bot- 
tles were  all  uncovered  and  a 
great  deal  of  the  oil  was  gone. 
And  who  do  you  think  had  ta- 
ken it?  Some  naughty  rats 
had  found  out  that  oil  was 
very  nice,  and  thinking,  I  sup- 
pose, that  if  they  could  get  at 
it  they  might  have  it,  they  had 
helped  themselves  without  ask- 
ing anybody's  leave.  And  now 
how  do  you  think  they  got  at 
it?  They  could  not  lift  the 
bottles  up  and  drink  it  as  you 
would  do,  and  they  could  not 
put  their  noses  into  them,  be- 


30  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

cause  the  necks  were  too  nar- 
row. I  expect  you  would  have 
said  that  it  was  of  no  use  try- 
ing to  get  the  oil  then;  but 
perhaps  these  rats  knew  the 
song,  "  Try,  try,  try  again,"  and.  . 
were  determined  not  to  give  up 
so  easily. 

One  by  one  they  climbed  up, 
and  letting  their  long  tails  fall 
into  the  oil,  they  drew  them 
gut  and  let  the  others  suck 
them,  so  each  got  a  turn  and  a 
share  of  the  feast.  Were  they 
not  clever  rats?  Should  you 
ever  have  thought  of  such  a 
funny  plan  ? 


RATS.  31 

Now,  perhaps  you  do  not 
know  that  rats  do  not  always 
stay  in  one  place :  sometimes 
they  move,  and  find  a  new 
home  for  themselves  in  a  new 
place;  and  sometimes  a  great 
many  of  them  make  up  their 
minds  to  go  at  once  —  I  suppose 
because  they  are  sociable,  and 
like  being  together. 

It  happened  one  evening  that 
a  gentleman  was  out  walking 
in  the  meadows,  when  he  met 
a  company  of  rats  all  going 
in  one  direction.  Now,  as  he 
knew  a  great  deal  about  all 
kinds  of  little  animals,  and  rats 


32  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

among  the  number,  he  soon 
guessed  what  they  were  doing, 
leaving  their  old  home,  and 
going  to  seek  another  some- 
where else,  and  so  he  watched 
them. 

In  the  middle  of  the  crowd 
of  rats  he  saw  one  poor  old  fel- 
low that  seemed  quite  blind 
and  walked  very  slowly ;  but 
that  was  no  reason  why  he 
should  be  left  behind ;  and  so 
when  he  looked  a  little  clos- 
er, he  found  that  one  of  its 
friends  was  leading  the  poor 
old  rat  along  by  a  piece  of  wood 
which  they  held  between  them 


RATS.  33 

in  their  mouths,  and  his  guide 
took  as  much  care  of  him  as 
you  would  of  your  papa  if  he 
were  blind. 

I  think  this  shows  us  that 
even  these  little  creatures, 
though  they  are  sometimes 
fierce  and  cruel,  can  love  each 
other  very  much  ;  and  that 
they  try  to  show  their  love 
in  much  the  same  way  as  we 
do,  by  helping  each  other  in 
their  difficulties  and  troubles, 
for  even  rats  have  their  trou- 
bles, and  very  great  they  seem 
sometimes,  I  have  no  doubt. 

An  omnibus  driver  once  found 


34  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

a  little  rat  in  very  great  trou- 
ble, arid  squeaking  most  pite- 
ously.  What  do  you  think  was 
the  matter  ?  Why,  just  this : 
his  mamma  had  put  him  to  bed 
in  the  hayloft  of  a  stable,  and 
having  tucked  him  up  snugly, 
she  had  gone  out  to  find  some 
supper,  and  was  a  very  long 
time  gone,  at  least  so  her  baby 
thought.  Perhaps  he  was  hun- 
gry, and  thought  it  very  hard 
to  go  to  bed  without  any  sup- 
per ;  at  all  events  he  began  to 
cry,  and  was  making  a  very 
dismal  noise  when  the  omnibus 
driver  found  him.  The  man 


RATS.  35 

thought  he  would  take  the 
baby  rat  home  to  show  his  chil- 
dren, and  so  the  little  fellow 
was  put  into  his  great-coat 
pocket,  and  went  home  with 
him.  He -soon  grew  very  fond 
of  the  coachman's  children,  and 
became  their  greatest  pet  ; 
they  called  him  "Ikey,"  after 
their  eldest  brother  Isaac  ;  and 
I  am  afraid  they  spoiled  him 
sadly,  for  he  was  allowed  to  go 
wherever  he  liked,  and  do  just 
what  he  pleased. 

Now,  there  were  two  things 
that  Master  Ikey  disliked  very 
much  indeed  —  cold  and  di]  t. 


36  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

His  favorite  seat  was  on  the 
kitchen  hearth,  but  he  would 
only  go  there  when  it  was  very 
clean;  and  when  in  the  even- 
ing the  room  got  cold,  and  the 
wind  blew  outside,  he  woukl 
lie  down  at  full  length  before 
the  fire  to  keep  himself  warm, 
and  in  the  night  he  was  some- 
times very  impertinent  indeed, 
for  he  would  creep  into  his 
master's  bed,  and  lie  there  just 
as  comfortably  as  if  it  were  his 
own. 

His  master  taught  him  many 
funny  tricks  ;  one  was  to  come 
when  he  called  him,  and  to 


RATS.  37 

jump  into  his  coat  pocket,  which 
he  held  open  to  receive  him. 
He  sometimes  stayed  there  the 
whole  day,  going  with  his  mas- 
ter on  the  omnibus  about  Lon- 
don ;  and  at  other  times  he  sat 
in  the  boot  of  the  omnibus,  to 
take  care  of  the  driver's  dinner. 
He  was  a  good  little  rat,  and 
never  eat  it,  unless  it  happened 
that  there  was  some  plum-pud- 
ding in  the  basket,  and  then  it 
was  quite  impossible  to  resist 
the  temptation;  and  so,  when 
his  master  came  to  look  for  his 
dinner,  he  generally  found  all 
the  plums  gone,  and  Master 


88  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

Eat  looking  very  guilty  and 
frightened  by  the  side  of  what 
he  had  left.  And  no  wonder 
he  was  frightened,  for  his  mas- 
ter had  made  a  little  whip  on 
purpose  for  him,  and  when  he 
did  not  behave  properly,  it  was 
brought  out ;  and  then  the  lit- 
tle fellow  began  to  squeak  most 
piteously,  and  would  run  and 
hide  himself  in  the  darkest  cor- 
ner he  could  find. 

This  little  rat  lived  all  his 
life  in  the  coachman's  family, 
and  seemed  very  happy  there, 
and  very  contented.  But  though 
he  knew  all  the  children  very 


RATS.  39 

well,  and  was  never  afraid  of 
any  of  them,  he  always  became 
very  shy  if  any  strangers  came 
in,  and  would  never  come  out 
of  his  hiding-place  till  they  were 
gone,  however  hungry  he  might 
be. 

When  he  began  to  grow  old 
his  teeth  became  very  bad ;  and 
the  children  often  laughed  to 
see  how  distressed  he  was  when 
any  of  his  food  was  too  hard 
for  him  to  bite.  They  used  to 
give  him  pieces  of  a  very  hard 
cake,  made  of  treacle,  which  he 
had  always  been  particularly 
fond  of,  just  for  the  fun  of  see- 


40  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

ing  him  gnawing  away  with 
the  few  teeth  he  had  left,  now 
giving  up  the  task  in  despair, 
and  then  again  going  at  it  with 
fresh  courage,  not  being  able  to 
make  up  his  mind  to  let  the 
sweet  bit  alone ;  like  some  lit- 
tle people  who  would  rather 
put  up  with  a  little  toothache 
than  give  up  those  dear  but 
mischievous  sugar-plums. 

I  can  tell  you  another  story 
of  a  pet  rat,  if  you  like :  a  very 
cunning  rat  this  one  was.  A 
poor  man,  whose  business  it 
was  to  make  whips,  had  no- 
ticed for  a  long  time  that  some 


RATS.  41 

of  his  pieces  of  leather  disap- 
peared in  a  very  strange  way ; 
and  especially  some  long  strips 
which  he  had  cut  thin,  and  cov- 
ered with  oil  to  make  them 
soft. 

Now,  he  did  not  like  to  lose 
his  leather  at  all ;  and  he 
watched  the  box  where  he  kept 
it  very  closely,  to  see  if  he  could 
find  out  what  became  of  it. 
Well,  one  day  he  was  in  his 
workshop,  very  busy  as  usual, 
when  he  heard  a  funny  noise 
in  one  corner,  and  when  he 
looked  up,  he  saw  a  little  hole 
in  the 'wall,  and  peeping  out 


42  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

there  was  the  head  of  a  large 
brown  rat.  It  looked  round 
very  carefully,  but  when  it  saw 
the  whip-maker  it  was  afraid  to 
venture  out,  and  ran  back  into 
its  hole  again.  The  man  thought 
that  now  he  knew  who  it  was 
that  stole  his  strips  of  leather ; 
and  he  determined  to  watch 
and  try  and  catch  the  mischiev- 
ous creature.  So  he  made  a 
kind  of  trap,  and  waited  pa- 
tiently, till  after  a  little  while 
out  came  Master  Eat  again, 
and  ran  straight  to  the  box 
where  the  pieces  of  leather  were 
kept :  in  he  jumped,  and  was 


RATS.  43 

soon  going  off  with  the  strip  he 
had  chosen,  when  down  came 
the  door  of  the  trap,  and  shut 
him  in  tight. 

Then  the  whip-maker  got  a 
thick  stick  and  lifted  up  the 
door,  intending  to  kill  the  little 
thief  as  he  was  trying  to  make 
his  escape.  But  Mr.  Eat  was 
very  cunning,  and  I  suppose 
that  while  he  was  in  the  trap 
he  thought  to  himself:  "  Now 
I  must  be  very  humble,  and 
try  and  coax  that  old  man  not 
to  kill  me ;  I  must  try  and  per- 
suade him  to  let  me  live,  and 
promise  not  to  touch  his  leather 


44  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

any  more ;  "  and  so,  when  the 
door  was  opened,  and  the  man 
was  holding  his  stick  ready  to 
strike  his  prisoner  dead,  the 
little  fellow  ran  out  quite  bold- 
ly, and  went  straight  up  the 
whip-maker's  arm,  and  looked 
up  in  liis  face  so  coaxingly,  and 
squeaked  in  such  a  piteous  way, 
that  the  man  dropped  the  stick, 
and  taking  the  rat  in  his  hand 
he  said  to  it :  "  Now  you  know 
I  was  just  going  to  kill  you, 
but  you  are  such  a  nice  little 
fellow  that  I  don't  think  I  will, 
only  you  must  promise  one 
thing:  I  will  give  you  plenty 


RATS.  45 

to  eat  every  morning,  if  you 
will  let  my  leather  alone,  and 
not  steal  any  more  of  it ;  but  if 
you  do,  I  will  kill  you."  Now 
I  do  not  suppose  Mr.  Rat  un- 
derstood all  this ;  but  somehow 
or  other  he  guessed  that  he 
must  not  take  what  did  not  be- 
long to  him  any  more ;  and  so 
from  that  time  he  was  always 
contented  with  the  breakfast 
his  kind  master  gave  him,  and 
never  went  near  the  box  of 
leather  again. 

You  see  from  what  I  have 
told  you  that  rats  are  not  very 
dainty  creatures ;  they  eat  all 


46  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

sorts  of  things  ;  and  if  they 
cannot  find  food  enough  they 
do  something  which  is  very 
naughty.  Those  that  are  very 
big  and  strong  fight  with  those 
that  are  weak,  and  when  they 
have  killed  them  they  eat  them 
up;  yes,  the  naughty  rats  eat 
each  other  up,  if  they  cannot 
get  anything  they  like  better. 

A  gentleman  had  once  a 
beautiful  white  rat,  which  he 
kept  in  a  cage;  and  one  day 
when  he  went  to  look  at  her  he 
found  that  she  had  got  four  lit- 
tle baby  rats,  all  as  white  as 
herself.  He  was  very  pleased 


RATS.  47 

I 

to  think  he  had  got  five  rats 
instead  of  one,  for  white  rats 
are  not  very  common  ;  but  the 
next  day  when  he  went  to  pay 
his  usual  visit  to  the  mother 
and  her  children,  he  found  them 
all  gone,  and  nothing  in  the 
cage  but  a  great  ugly  brown 
rat.  The  horrid  creature  had 
got  in,  and  gobbled  up  the  poor 
white  rat,  and  all  her  little 
ones. 

I  am  sure  five  rats  must 
be  a  great  deal  too  much  for 
anybody's  breakfast ;  and  so  we 
must  hope  he  was  very  ill  "af- 
terwards, and  was  taught  by 


48  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

sad    experience   not   to   be   so 
greedy  another  time. 

You  will  say,  after  hearing 
this  story,  that  rats  are  very 
cruel,  wicked  creatures,  and 
that  you  do  not  like  them ;  but 
I  have  something  still  worse  to 
tell  you.  If  a  poor  rat  is  taken 
very  ill,  and  seems  as  if  he 
would  not  live,  his  friends  do 
not  nurse  him  and  comfort  him, 
and  try  to  be  very  kind  to  him ; 
oh  no !  they  think  it  much  bet- 
ter to  kill  him  at  once,  and  so 
they  set  to  work  and  eat  him 
up;  What  do  you  think  of 
that  ?  How  would  you  like  to 


RATS.  49 

be  a  poor  sick  rat?  Not  at 
all,  I  expect ;  for  if  you  are  ill 
you  like  to  be  nursed,  and  pet- 
ted, and  kissed ;  you  like  to 
feel  that  other  people  are  sorry, 
and  would  make  you  well  if 
they  could  ;  but  the  rats  do  not 
seem  to  pity  their  poor  friends 
at  all ;  they  only  seem  to  think 
that  as  he  is  ill  they  shall  have 
very  little  trouble  in  killing 
him,  because  he  is  not  strong 
enough  to  defend  himself. 

However,  we  must  not  be  too 
angry  with  them  for  their  cru- 
elty to  their  sick  brothers  and 
sisters,  for  we  must  remember 

4 


60  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

that  there  are  some  places  in 
the  world  where  men  and  wo- 
men do  just  the  same  thing, 
and  that  is  much  worse,  because 
they  ought  to  know  better. 

There  are  many  things  that 
are  very  interesting  even  in  the 
fierce  rats.  It  is  very  nice  to 
see  their  love  for  their  little 
ones,  and  their  clever  ways  of 
getting  their  food;  and  some- 
times, like  little  Ikey,  they 
make  very  good  and  loving 
pets. 


A   I:.\T  AM'   in:::   r..\\:\. 


1ATS. 


little  children  are  fond 
of  little  birds,  and  so  I  sup- 
pose you  are  too.  You  like 
to  hear  their  different  songs 
when  you  wake  in  the  morning, 
to  watch  them  leaving  their 
nests  in  search  of  something  for 
their  little  ones'  breakfast,  or 
teaching  them,  when  they  are 
old  enough,  to  fly,  and  to  take 
care  of  themselves.  You  like 
to  see  them,  and  you  often  say 
how  pretty  they  are  :  the  robin 


52  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

with  his  red  waistcoat  ;  the 
blackbird  with  his  yellow  beak; 
the  swallow  with  his  black  and 
white  coat ;  and  hosts  of  others, 
of  all  colors  and  shapes.  But 
did  you  ever  think  why  God 
made  the  little  birds  ?  Did  he 
only  make  them  to  look  pretty 
and  to  amuse  us  with  their 
sweet  songs  ?  Oh,  no  ;  it  is 
quite  true  that  when  he  gave 
them  such  beautiful  voices  he 
did  it  partly  that  they  might 
cheer  us,  and  make  us  feel  glad 
and  happy,  as  I  am  sure  they 
often  do ;  but  that  is  not  their 
only  work.  Do  you  know  what 


BATS.  63 

is  the  food  of  these  little  birds  ? 
They  do  not  live  only  on  seeds 
and  on  the  grains  of  corn  they 
can  pick  up  in  the  fields,  but 
they  like  to  have  some  meat  too ; 
and  so  they  catch  the  flies  and 
gnats,  and  other  insects  which 
fly  about  in  the  summer-time, 
and  make  their  dinner  off  them. 
And  by  eating  all  these  little 
creatures  they  do  a  great  deal 
of  good.  If  they  did  not  do  so 
there  would  be  so  many  flies, 
so  many  gnats,  so  many  wasps, 
and  so  many  caterpillars  that 
we  should  not  know  what  to 
do. 


54  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

• 

This  is  the  work  of  the  little 
birds  ;  but  I  am  not  going  to 
tell  you  about  any  kind  of  bird 
to-day,  but  about  a  little  crea- 
ture who  helps  them  very 
much. 

You  know  that  when  the  sun 
has  set,  and  the  moon  comes 
out,  and  the  night  covers  the 
earth,  the  little  birds  think  that 
it  is  time  to  go  to  bed  ;  so  they 
leave  off  their  work  and  go  to 
their  little  nests,  and  there  they 
put  their  heads  under  their 
wings  and  are  soon  fast  asleep. 
But  in  the  meantime  all  the 
insects  have  not  gone  to  bed ; 


BATS.  55 

some  of  them  are  very  busy 
still ;  indeed,  I  think  the  gnats 
come  out  the  most  in  the  even- 
ing ;  and  then  it  is  that  the 
little  bat  appears,  all  brisk  and 
lively,  to  begin  his  work  just 
where  the  swallow  had  left  it 
off. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  bat  ?  If 
not,  go  to  the  window  any  warm 
evening  in  the  summer-time, 
after  it  is  dark,  and  you  will  be 
almost  sure  to  see  one,  flying 
about  in  very  much  the  same 
way  as  the  swallow  does  in  the 
daytime.  But  I  do  not  promise 
you  that  you  will  see  much  of 


56  LITTLE  ANIMALS, 

its  shape,  for  the  little  thing 
flies  so  fast,  now  close  to  the 
ground,  now  high  up  among  the 
trees,  now  almost  touching  you, 
and  the  next  minute  quite  out 
of  sight,  that  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  see  what  it  is  like 
while  it  is  flying,, and  when  it 
is  not  on  the  wing  it  does  not 
look  half  so  pretty^)  * 

But  perhaps  you  want  to 
know  whether  the  bat  can  sing 
like  the  birds.  Well,  it  certain- 
ly can  sing,  but  its  voice  is  not 
very  pretty.  I  will  tell  you 
what  it  is  like :  if  you  take  a 
slate  pencil  with  a  very  sharp 


BATS.  57 

point,  and  holding  it  as  upright 
as  you  can,  draw  it  quickly 
down  your  slate,  it  will  make  a 
noise  very  like  the  note  of  a 
bat,  only  nothing  like  so  shrill 
and  sharp.  \  , 

Do  you  know  that  some  peo- 
ple are  so  silly  as  to  be  afraid 
of  these  pretty  little  creatures, 
and  will  never  touch  them  if 
they  can  help  it  ?  A  poor  little 
bat  once  flew  by  mistake  into 
a  grocer's  shop,  and  as  he  could 
not  find  his  way  out  again  he 
tried  to  hide  himself  behind  a 
pile  of  sugar-loaves  on  a  high 
shelf.  Now  the  grocer,  foolish 


58  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

man,  was  afraid  to  touch  liirti, 
and  so  he  sent  for  a  gentleman 
who  lived  near,  and  who  he 
knew  was  very  fond  of  little 
animals,  to  come  and  catch  his 
bat  for  him.  The  gentleman 
was  very  willing,  and  taking 
with  him  an  old  cage  he  went 
to  the  shop.  There  he  found 
Mr.  Bat  squeezed  up  as  small 
as  possible  into  a  corner,  but 
when  he  tried  to  take  hold  of 
him  the  creature  flapped  his 
wings  and  tried  to  escape  ;  but 
his  enemy  was  stronger  than 
he  was,  and  soon  made  him  fast 
prisoner. 


BATS.  59 

This  little  fellow  had  got 
sharp  little  teeth,  and  tried  hard 
to  bite:  but  he  soon  found  it 
was  no  use,  and  that  he  must 
submit  to  being  captured  and 
put  into  the  wooden  cage. 

As  soon  as  he  was  safe  inside, 
he  began  climbing  up  the  back, 
and  hung  on  by  his  claws  from 
the  top,  having  his  head  down- 
wards ;  a  very  uncomfortable 
position,  I  should  say ;  but  bats 
always  seem  to  like  it  best. 

This  little  creature  was  a 
dainty  bat,  and  instead  of  eat- 
ing insects  whole  as  most  of 
them  do,  it  would  pick  them  to 


60  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

pieces,  and  only  eat  the  parts 
it  liked  best.  And  the  same 
with  the  pieces  of  meat  that 
were  given  to  it ;  if  they  were 
at  all  hard  or  dry,  nothing 
would  make  it  touch  them. 

This  poor  bat  did  not  live 
long  in  its  wooden  cage.  I 
daresay  it  was  not  so  happy  as 
it  would  have  been  flying  about 
in  the  open  air ;  or  perhaps  it 
had  been  hurt  when  it  first  flew 
into  the  grocer's  shop :  anyhow, 
it  lived  only  two  or  three  weeks, 
and  was  found  one  morning 
hanging  by  its  hind  claws  from 
the  roof  of  the  cage,  quite  dead. 


BATS.  61 

It  is  not  a  very  easy  thing  to 
keep  these  tiny  animals  alive 
in  prison ;  they  are  so  fond  of 
flying  about,  and  doing  just 
what  they  like,  that  when  they 
find  themselves  shut  in  tight, 
and  that  they  cannot  get  out, 
they  often  grow  very  unhappy 
and  gloomy,  and  die  in  a  few 
days.  Five  large  bats  w^ere 
once  caught  in  a  country  town ; 
four  of  them  were  lady  bats, 
and  the  other  was  a  gentleman. 
They  were  put  into  a  large 
cage,  and  were  fed  with  every- 
thing that  bats  generally  seem 
to  like.  But  they  all  looked 


62  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

very  melancholy,  and  would 
not  touch  their  food,  thinking, 
I  daresay,  that  it  would  be 
much  nicer  if  they  had  caught 
it  themselves.  The  gentleman 
bat  was  very  cross  indeed,  much 
worse  than  any  of  the  ladies, 
squeaking  most  -disrnallys  and 
biting  the  others  whenever  they 
came  near,  and  breaking  his 
teeth  by  trying  to  gnaw  through 
the  bars  of  his  cage. 

At  last,  one  day,  he  died,  I 
suppose,  of  a  broken  heart ;  and 
then  the  others  began  to  forget 
how  unhappy  they  were,  and 
grew  more  cheerful  and  con- 


BATS.  63 

tented.  I  daresay  they  were 
very  glad  to  be  rid  of  cross  Mr. 
Bat,  who  had  made  himself  so 
disagreeable  ;  and  for  a  few 
days  the  four  ladies  lived  to- 
gether very  happily. 

But,  one  by  one,  three  of 
them  died,  and  only  one  re- 
mained ;  but  she  grew  very 
tame,  and  used  to  spend  all  day 
hanging  by  her  hind  feet  from 
the  top  of  the  cage,  coming 
down  when  it  began  to  grow 
dark,  and  flying  about  quite 
merrily. 

She  also  took  great  pains  to 
clean  herself,  combing  out  her 


64  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

hair  with  her  claws,  and  seeming 
particularly  anxious  to  have  a 
very  nice  straight  parting  down 
her  back.  In  a  few  days  she  had 
a  little  baby  bat,  and  now  how 
do  you  think  the  mother  would 
nurse  her  little  child  ?  She  had 
a  very  funny  way  of  nursing 
it.  She  did  not  hold  it,  but  it 
held  her.  Is  not  that  strange  ? 
But  you  know  I  told  you  that 
the  old  bat  used  always  to  hang 
from  the  cage  by  her  claws  with 
her  head  downwards,  and  as  the 
little  one  liked  to  do  so  too,  she 
taught  it  to  fix  its  tiny  claws 
into  her  body,  arid  to  hang  on 


BATS.  65 

to  her  in  the  same  way  as  she 
hung  to  the  cage.  She  liked 
to  have  it  very  close  to  her,  for 
she  was  very  fond  of  her  baby, 
and  took  a  great  deal  of  care  of 
it. 

But  after  two  days  the  moth- 
er died,  and  the  poor  little  bat 
was  left  an  orphan.  The  gen- 
tleman to  whom  the  bats  be- 
longed was  very  much  afraid  it 
wrould  die  too,  now  that  it  had 
no  one  to  take  care  of  it,  so  he 
wrapped  it  up  in  flannel  to 
keep  it  warm,  and  fed  it  with 
a  sponge  dipped  in  milk.  But 
it  was  of  no  use ;  the  little  crea- 


66  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

ture  could  not  do  without  its 
mother,  whose  fur  had  kept  it 
so  nice  and  warm,  and  after 
eight  days  it  died  too. 

So  it  is  very  plain  that  these 
pretty  little  creatures  do  not 
like  to  be  shut  up  in  cages, 
and  made  prisoners,  instead  of 
being  allowed  to  spend  their 
lives  in  flying"  about  in  the 
beautiful  open  country,  so  hap- 
py and  so  busy  doing  the  work 
for  which  they  were  made  ;  and 
though  I  think  you  should  try 
all  you  can  to  find  out  all  about 
these  curious  little  creatures,  I 
do  not  think  you  would  like  to 


BATS.  67 

shut  them  up  in  a  cage,  because 
you  know  how  much  happier 
they  would  be  if  they  were  free 
and  wild  as  they  were  before 
they  were  caught 

Is  there  any  lesson  we  can 
learn  from  the  little  animals? 
Let  me  see :  I  think  there  is. 
The  little  mice  taught  us  to  be 
industrious  and  to  work  hard ; 
and  now  the  bat  adds  a  little 
piece  on  to  that  lesson.  It  tells 
us  that  we  are  to  do  our  work 
not  only  with  all  our  might  in 
the  day-time,  I  mean  when  peo- 
ple can  see  us,  but  to  do  it  just 
as  well  when  there  is  nobody  to 


68  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

see  and  nobody  to  praise  us  for 
our  industry. 

I  said  nobody  to  see,  but  yet 
there  is  Somebody.  There  is 
One  who  sees  in  the  dark  as 
well  as  in  the  light,  to  whom 
the  night  is  as  clear  as  the  day : 
the  great  God  who  made  the 
little  bats,  and  who  sent  them 
forth  to  do  their  work  in  the 
night-time,  to  fill  up  the  gap 
the  swallow  leaves  when  it 
goes  to  bed  in  the  evening. 

Yes,  He  sees,  and  we  should 
never  forget  that. 


FROGS. 

were  talking  in  the  last 
fpf  chapter  about  a  baby  bat, 
;  and  about  the  great  care 
its  mother  takes  of  it,  but  in 
this  we  are  going  to  see  if  we 
can  find  out  anything  about  a 
creature  whose  mother  takes  no 
care  of  it  at  all  when  it  is  little, 
but  leaves  it  to  manage  for  it- 
self altogether.  Did  you  ever 
notice  when  you  have  been  near 
the  side  of  a  pond,  some  masses 
of  little  eggs  about  the  size  of 


70  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

a  pea,  which  float  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  generally  ly- 
ing among  the  long  grass  at 
the  edge  of  the  pond  ?  I  dare- 
say you  have  seen  them  some- 
times;  but  perhaps  you  never 
thought  of  asking  what  they 
are,  or  anything  about  them. 

Well,  suppose  you  wore  to 
come  back  again  in  a  few  days 
to  the  same  place,  do  you  think 
you  would  find  these  dark-look- 
ing eggs  still  there?  Ah  no; 
they  would  be  all  gone ;  and  in 
their  places  you  would  see 
numbers  and  numbers  of  funny 
little  black  creatures  with  very 


FROGS.  71 

big  heads,  and  flat  thin  tails, 
which  make  them  look  some- 
thing like  fishes.  These  little 
black  creatures  are  called  tad- 
poles ;  they  grow  very  fast,  be- 
cause they  eat  a  great  deal,  and 
in  a  little  while  the  long  thin 
tail  disappears,  little  legs  grow 
instead ;  and  the  animal  is  no 
longer  a  tadpole,  but  a  little 
frog,  jumping  about  just  as  you 
have  often  seen  frogs  do. 

Now,  if  you  were  to  ask  the 
little  frog  where  he  would  like 
to  live,  and  if  it  could  answer 
you,  what  do  you  think  it  would 
say  ?  Why  it  would  say,  "  Oh ! 


72  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

let  me  stay  here  by  this  pond, 
where  the  ground  is  so  nice  and 
wet ;  I  like  to  have  plenty  to 
drink,  I  am  always  so  thirsty." 
And  if  you  did  not  listen  to  the 
little  frog,  but  took  it  away  to 
a  place  where  there  was  no  wa- 
ter and  where  the  ground  was 
dry,  it  would  soon  grow  very 
thin  and  die,  for  of  all  animals 
the  frog  is  the  most  thirsty.  It 
does  not  only  drink  with  its 
mouth,  but  it  sucks  up  water 
through  a  great  many  little 
holes  in  its  skin,  just  like  a 
sponge  does  if  you  put  it  in  a 
basin  of  water. 


FROGS.  73 

A  gentleman  once  caught  a 
number  of  frogs,  which  he  kept 
in  a  bowl  of  water ;  as  long  as 
there  was  plenty  of  water  in 
the  basin,  they  looked  very  fat 
and  well ;  but  if  he  took  them 
out  when  the  weather  was  very 
hot  they  soon  grew  thin  and 
ill.  These  frogs  grew  quite 
tame,  and  learned  to  take  their 
food  from  their  master's  hand. 
They  were  very  fond  of  flies, 
and  were  very  clever  at  catch- 
ing them ;  so,  when  the  fruit 
for  the  gentleman's  dessert  was 
laid  out  in  the  storeroom,  these 
frogs  were  placed  round  it,  to 


74  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

act  as  little  policemen,  and  keep 
the  flies  from  spoiling  it  ;  and 
they  did  their  work  very  well 
indeed. 

So  as  the  frog  likes  a  great 
deal  of  water,  and  is  very  fond 
of  the  insects  that  he  finds  in 
it,  I  think  it  is  quite  right  that 
he  should  stay  in  the  water,  or 
as  near  it  as  he  likes ;  for  though 
of  course  they  are  very  useful 
animals,  and  do  a  great  deal  of 
good  by  eating  the  slugs  and 
other  insects  which  are  very 
troublesome  if  they  get  into 
cornfields  or  gardens,  still  I 
cannot  say  that  I  should  like  to 


FROGS.  75 

have  a  frog  for  a  pet,  or  even  a 
toad,  which  is  its  first  cousin, 
you  know. 

So  I  say  I  think  they  had 
better  stay  down  in  the  ponds 
and  rivers,  and  let  us  go  and 
visit  them  there,  instead  of 
coming  to  see  us  at  home,  where 
they  are  never  very  welcome. 
Now  there  are  some  very  fanny 
things  about  the  frog  which 
you  should  look  out  for  when 
you  go  to  see  it. 

One  is  that  after  it  has  worn 
its  coat  for  some  time,  and 
thinks  it  is  either  getting  very 
tight  or  very  shabby,  it  makes 


76  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

up  its  mind  to  get  rid  of  it ;  as 
this  is  a  very  curious  ceremony 
I  will  tell  you  about  it.  When 
a  number  of  frogs  have  deter- 
mined to  change  their  skin, 
having,  of  course,  got'iiew  ones 
underneath,  several  of  them  be- 
gin at  once.  Two  of  their  com- 
panions hold  the  one  whose  coat 
is  to  come  off,  tight  round  the 
middle  of  his  body,  while  one 
or  two  others  give  little  bites 
and  pulls  at  his  skin,  till  by  de- 
grees, first  one  leg,  and  then 
the  others,  and  at  last  the  whole 
body  is  set  free,  and  the  frog 
appears  with  such  a  clean  white 


FROGS.  77 

skin  that  I  am  afraid  he  must 
be  very  vain. 

If  there  are  many  of  these 
little  creatures  changing  their 
coats  at  the  same  time,  and  in 
the  same  pond,  as  there  are 
sometimes,  they  make  quite  a 
loud  noise  with  their  croaking, 
so  that  you  would  almost  fancy 
that  there  were  some  ducks  in 
the  pond. 

I  have  told  you  that  frogs 
are  very  thirsty  creatures,  and 
like  to  live  in  damp  places  ; 
but  I  must  not  forget  to  tell 
you  about  one  frog  who  was 
different  from  most  of  his  rela- 


78  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

tions  in  this  respect,  that  he 
always  chose  out  warm  and  dry 
places  for  his  house. 

He  had  made  his  way  into  a 
gentleman's  house  by  a  hole  in 
the  wall  of  the  kitchen ;  and 
though  for  a  long  time  he  was 
very  shy  and  timid,  and  never 
dared  to  leave  his  hiding-place 
when  any  one  was  in  the  room, 
yet  after  a  time  he  forgot  all 
about  his  fears,  and  came  out 
regularly  every  day  to  be  fed. 

His  favorite  seat  was  close  to 
the  kitchen  fire,  where  he  used 
to  sit  for  hours  in  the  long  win- 
ter evenings ;  and,  being  a  great 


FROGS.  79 

friend  of  the  old  cat,  he  would 
often  nestle  himself  under  her 
fur,  she  all  the  while  making  no 
objection,  but  seeming  quite 
fond  of  her  strange  companion. 
How  it  happened  that  this  lit- 
tle fellow  had  such  a  dislike  to 
the  cold  I  do  not  know,  for,  as 
I  said  before,  most  of  his  broth- 
ers and  sisters  seem  to  be  all 
alive  in  damp,  chilly  weather, 
and  anything  but  happy  if  the 
sun  is  very  hot. 

But  before  I  finish  this  chap- 
ter I  must  tell  you  of  a  dread- 
ful scrape  in  which  poor  frog 
once  found  himself. 


80  LITTLE  AKBIALS. 

In  taking  his  usual  morning 
walk,  this  little  fellow  made  a 
mistake,  and  taking  a  rather 
longer  jump  than  usual,  he 
found  himself  close  to  a  cage  full 
of  monkeys,  grinning  and  chat- 
tering, and  looking  horribly  mis- 
chievous. Before  he  had  time  to 
get  over  his  fright  enough  to  get 
out  of  their  way,  one  of  these 
mischievous  little  animals  was 
down  on  the  ground,  and  putting 
his  paw  between  the  bars,  he 
pulled  poor  froggie  into  the  cage. 
Oh,  what  a  fright  he  was  in ! 
He  expected  every  moment  to 
be  bitten  in  two,  and  swallowed 


FROGS.  81 

down.  But  no  ;  none  of  the 
monkeys  knew  what  to  make 
of  the  cold,  wet  creature ;  and 
they  hardly  liked  to  touch  it ; 
so  one  of  them  held  him*  up  by 
the  end  of  one  leg,  while  all  the 
rest  stood  examining  him,  to 
see  what  could  make  him  feel 
so  very  strange.  All  the  while 
the  poor  old  fellow  was  half 
dead  with  fright,  and  tried  to 
show  by  his  struggles  how  un- 
comfortable he  was,  and  how 
much  he  wished  they  would 
let  him  go.  At  last  his  kicking 
became  so  violent  that  the 
monkey  let  him  fall,  and  with- 


82  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

out  losing  any  more  time  the 
frog  picked  himself  up  and 
hopped  off  as  fast  as  he  could, 
quite  determined  never  to  go 
too  near  a  monkey's  cage  again 
as  long  as  he  lived. 

Poor  frogs  sometimes  get  in- 
to trouble  and  into  great  diffi- 
culties in  their  battles  with 
other  creatures.  I  have  told 
you  that  they  themselves  live 
on  insects,  flies,  snails,  and 
worms,  but  I  do  not  think  I 
have  told  you  that  they  are 
themselves  eaten  by  larger  an- 
imals. A  gentleman  was  once 
walking  through  a  field,  when 


FROGS.  83 

he  heard  a  very  loud  croaking, 
as  if  a  poor  frog  was  in  great 
distress  somewhere  near.  The 
sound  seemed  to  come  from  a 
ditch  not  far  off,  so  he  went  to 
see  if  he  could  find  out  what 
was  the  matter ;  and  there  he 
saw  a  large  snake  having  a 
great  battle  with  a  fine  fat  frog. 
Mr.  Snake  had  got  the  best 
of  the  fight,  so  far,  and  was  try- 
ing to  swallow  poor  froggie, 
having  got  his  fore  legs  into 
his  mouth,  and  pulling  away 
with  all  his  might  to  get  the 
hind  ones  in  too.  The  poor 
frog,  however,  had  a  great  dis- 


84  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

like  to  being  treated  in  this 
way ;  to  be  swallowed  alive, 
the  very  idea  was  so  horrible ; 
so  with  all  his  strengh  the 
struggled  to  get  free,  croak- 
ing all  the  while  as  loud  as  he 
could,  I  daresay  in  hopes  some 
brother  frog  might  hear  and 
come  to  help. 

No  brother  or  sister,  however, 
was  to  be  seen ;  but  the  gen- 
tleman who  was  watching  the 
fight  happened  to  make  a  lit- 
tle noise,  which  frightened  the 
snake  so  much  that  he  dropped 
the  poor  frog  and  made  off  as 
fast  as  possible. 


FROGS.  85 

The  poor  fellow  could  hardly 
believe  that  his  horrid  enemy 
was  really  gone,  and  that  he 
was  safe  in  the  ditch  once  more. 
It  seemed  too  good  to  be  true  ; 
but  yet  the  snake  was  nowhere 
to  be  seen ;  so,  after  waiting  a 
little  while  to  recover  himself, 
for  he  was  still  feeling  rather 
queer  and  uncomfortable,  he 
hopped  off  again  to  his  hole, 
thinking,  I  daresay,  what  very 
disagreeable  creatures  snakes 
are,  and  hoping  he  should  never 
meet  one  again. 

Now  1  have  told  you  a  great 
many  funny  things  about  frogs, 


86  LITTLE  ANIMALS, 

and  I  have  shown  you,  too, 
that  though  they  are  not  very 
pretty  animals,  they  are  useful 
ones.  They  do  a  great  deal  of 
good  by  eating  the  little  slugs 
and  insects  which  spoil  the 
flowers  and  vegetables  in  our 
gardens  ;  but  that  is  not  their 
only  use. 

In  some  countries  people  eat 
the  frogs,  and  like  them  very 
much  ;  and  I  daresay  if  you 
were  to  go  to  France,  you  might 
like  them  very  much  too ;  for 
Chough  we  do  not  eat  them  in 
England,  and  think  it  is  very 
strange  for  anybody  to  do  so, 


FROGS.  87 

the  French  people  like  them 
very  much,  and  say  they  are 
quite  as  good  as  a  chicken  when 
they  are  nicely  cooked  ;  and 
they  give  them  to  sick  people 
who  cannot  eat  anything  but 
very  nice  food. 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN. 

SAID  something  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  little  book 
about  the  great  care  and 
love  with  which  God  watches 
over  his  smallest  creatures.  I 
showed  you  how  he  teaches  the 
little  mice  to  lay  up  their  food 
for  the  winter,  so  that  they  may 
not  be  starved  when  the  cold 
weather  comes,  and  they  cannot 
find  any  food ;  and,  in  the  same 
way,  when  we  were  talking 
about  the  bat,  I  told  you  how 


HEDGEHOG   AND  THE  S.VAKK. 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.     89 

the  timid  little  thing  that  can- 
not venture  out  in  the  daylight, 
finds  its  food  all  ready  for  it, 
when  the  sun  having  set,  and 
all  around  being  dark,  it  creeps 
out  from  its  hiding-place  in 
some  old  barn  or  church  tower, 
and  begins  its  evening  flight. 
And  so  with  all  the  other 
little  animals  that  I  have  been 
telling  you  about :  we  see,  in 
many  different  ways,  the  ten- 
der love  of  the  great  God  for  all 
the  things  that  he  has  made ; 
and  in  the  life  of  the  little 
hedgehog  the  same  thing  is 
very  plain. 


90  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

Have  you  ever  seen  one  of 
these  little  animals  ?  If  so, 
you  know  that  it  is  not  a  very 
pretty  creature ;  it  has  a  coat 
all  over  things  very  like  long 
thorns,  which  are  called  spines ; 
and  it  is  with  these  that  the 
hedgehog  defends  itself  from 
all  its  enemies. 

For  it  has  a  great  many  en- 
emies. The  weasel,  the  marten, 
the  polecat,  and  many  large 
birds  often  fight  with  it,  and 
try  and  kill  it ;  but  they  very 
seldom  succeed ;  for  as  soon  as 
they  begin  their  attack,  the 
hedgehog  rolls  itself  into  a  ball, 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.     91 

covering  its  head  with  its  prick- 
ly spines,  and  then  no  animal 
dares  to  come  near  it :  and  no 
wonder  they  keep  at  a  distance ; 
for  I  daresay  you  have  some- 
times put  your  hand  for  a  mo- 
ment into  a  thorny  rosebush, 
or  gooseberry  bush,  and  know 
how  it  feels,  arid  how  fast  you 
draw  it  back  again,  and  how 
many  scratches  you  find  on  it 
when  you  have  got  free  from 
the  thorns.  Now,  if  it  had  not 
this  spiny  coat,  the  little  hedge- 
hog would  be  quite  unable  to 
fight  with  all  the  fierce  animals 
that  attack  it;  for  it  cannot, 


92  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

like  some  of  the  creatures  you 
have  read  about,  run  away  and 
get  out  of  their  reach.  It  can- 
not move  fast,  and  is  very  clum- 
sy and  awkward;  and  so  this 
is  why  God  has  given  it  such  a 
thick  thorny  coat  to  protect  it, 
just  as  the  coats  of  mail  were 
made  to  protect  the  soldiers 
long  ago.  But  though  the 
hedgehog  has  so  many  enemies, 
it  is  not  at  all  a  fierce  creature 
itself.  It  generally  feeds  on 
worms  and  insects,  and  lives  in 
a  hole  in  the  ground  at  the  root 
of  a  tree.  Sometimes  people 
catch  hedgehogs  and  keep  them 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.     93 

in  the  kitchen  to  kill  black 
beetles  and  other  insects;  and 
sometimes  they  grow  very  tame, 
and  even  catch  mice  as  well  as 
cats  do. 

It  seems  funny  to  think  that 
such  queer-looking  creatures 
can  ever  be  tamed ;  but  it  is 
quite  true :  and  sometimes  they 
grow  quite  fond  of  their  mas- 
ters, and  like  to  be  petted  and 
caressed.  I  heard  of  one  once 
which  would  stretch  itself  out, 
and  lie  on  its  master's  knees 
before  the  fire,  letting  him 
stroke  that  part  of  its  face  that 
has  no  spines,  and  evidently 


94  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

liking  to  feel  the  touch  of  his 
hand. 

Another  grew  so  tame  that 
it  made  friends  with  an  old  ter- 
rier dog,  and  the  two  would  lie 
together  before  the  fire,  nestling 
close  together  that  they  might 
keep  each  other  warm.  And 
they  did  not,  like  some  little 
people  I  know,  soon  forget  their 
love  for  each  other,  and  begin 
to  quarrel ;  but  they  continued 
to  be  the  best  friends  in  the 
world  as  long  as  they  lived. 

Now,  though  I  said  the 
hedgehog  generally  lives  on 
worms  and  insects,  and  does 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.     95 

not  often  kill  anything  larger, 
it  does  sometimes  eat  small 
snakes ;  but  then  it  must  be  a 
very  bold  hedgehog  that  will 
dare  to  fight  with  a  snake. 

A  gentleman  once  saw  a  very 
fierce  battle  going  on  between 
a  hedgehog  and  a  snake ;  and 
it  was  very  funny  to  see  how 
cleverly  the  little  fat  crea- 
ture attacked  its  slippery  en- 
emy. Watching  its  opportuni- 
ty, it  quickly  unrolled  itself, 
and  gave  the  snake  a  sharp 
bite ;  but  before  it  could  be  hurt 
in  return,  it  had  again  turned 
into  a  round  spiky  ball,  so  that 


93  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

the  poor  snake  was  quite  puz- 
zled what  to  do.  While  he  was 
wondering,  the  hedgehog  again 
uncurled  itself,  and  with  anoth- 
er bite,  breaking  the  back  of 
its  enemy,  gained  a  complete 
victory.  And  now  there  was 
nothing  for  it  to  do  but  to  be- 
gin its  dinner,  and  so  it  set  to 
work.  First  it  passed  the  whole 
body  of  the  poor  snake  through 
its  teeth,  breaking  the  bones  at 
each  bite  ;  this  was  the  hedge- 
hog's way  of  dressing  its  dinner. 
It  did  not  want  a  saucepan  to 
boil  it,  or  a  fire  to  roast  it,  nor 
anything  to  make  it  nicer  than 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.     97 

it  was ;  for  to  our  little  friend  I 
daresay  a  whole  snake  was  a 
very  great  treat ;  anyhow,  it 
eat  it  all  up,  and  seemed  to  en- 
joy it  very  much. 

There  is  one  animal,  how- 
ever, that  can  kill  the  hedge- 
hog in  spite  of  its  spines  and  its 
clever  way  of  defending  itself. 
The  fox,  as  you  know  very  well, 
is  a  most  cunning  creature ; 
and  he  is  the  worst  enemy  of 
the  little  hedgehog  ;  for  he  has 
found  out  how  to  make  it  un- 
roll itself,  and  when  that  is 
done,  it  is  very  easy  to  kill  it. 
I  daresay  that  even  Mr.  Fox 

7 


98  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

was  very  much  puzzled  at  first ; 
but  when  we  look  at  his  sharp 
face,  and  little  round  twinkling 
eyes,  we  can  easily  believe  all 
that  people  tell  us  about  his 
being  so  sly,  so  mischievous, 
and  so  cunning. 

Now,  the  fox  is  too  wise,  a 
great  deal,  to  go  near  those 
sharp  thorns  and  get  his  nose 
pricked  ;  oh  no :  he  knows  bet- 
ter than  that.  He  sees  that 
though  the  hedgehog  has  cov- 
ered its  head  safely,  yet  its  feet 
are  left  bare  ;  and  so,  running 
at  them,  he  gives  them  a  little 
bite  with  his  sharp-pointed 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.     99 

teeth,  just  hard  enough  to  make 
it  uncurl  itself;  and  then  he 
knows  he  can  do  what  he  likes 
with  it,  for  then  it  is  quite  help- 
less and  defenceless. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the 
hedgehog  is  so  much  afraid  of 
the  sharp,  clever  fox,  when  even 
the  thick  armor  that  God  has 
given  it  for  defence  cannot  pro- 
tect it  from  his  attacks. 

But  you  have  heard  quite 
enough  about  the  hedgehog, 
and  we  will  now  go  and  see 
ope  of  its  cousins,  a  funny  little 
creature  that  lives  underground, 
and  very  seldom  comes  up  into 


100  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

sight.  Perhaps  it  does  not  like 
the  light,  for  it  has  very  tiny 
eyes,  so  small  indeed  that  they 
can  hardly  be  seen ;  so  it  makes 
its  house  underground,  feeding 
on  those  long  worms  which  I 
daresay  you  have  often  seen 
crawling  about  in  the  garden. 
Now,  it  seems  to  us  very 
strange  that  any  creature 
should  like  to  live  in  a  hole  in 
the  earth  where  the  sun  does 
not  shine,  and  where  every- 
thing is  so  dark  ;  I  am  sure  no 
little  child  would  choose  such  a 
home  —  so  dismal,  gloomy,  and 
cold.  Why  is  it,  then,  that  the 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.     101 

little  mole  picks  out  such  a 
place  in  which  to  build  his 
house  ?  I  think  there  is  a  very 
good  reason.  You  know  that 
God  has  made  every  one  of  his 
creatures  for  some  particular 
purpose,  and  has  given  to  each 
the  work  that  it  has  to  do.  He 
made  the  horses,  cows,  and 
sheep  for  our  use;  and  what 
should  we  do  without  them? 
And  the  smaller  creatures  too 
have  all  their  different  work  to 
do.  And  what  is  the  little 
mole's  business,  do  you  think  ? 
Have  you  ever  noticed  little 
heaps  of  earth  on  the  garden 


102  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

flower-beds,  beaten  down  and 
patted  very  smooth  ?  Well, 
this  is  the  mole's  house,  and 
from  this  heap  there  are  many 
little  tunnels  running  in  differ- 
ent directions :  it  is  in  these 
little  passages  that  the  mole 
catches  the  worms  for  its  food. 

Now  this  funny  little  house, 
with  its  tunnels  and  passages, 
is  like  a  drain,  and  carries  away 
the  water  which  would  very 
likely  injure  the  roots  of  the 
plants  if  it  were  left  there  too 
long. 

This  is  the  work  that  the 
mole  is  busy  about  all  its  life ; 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.     103 

and  this  is  why  it  always  lives 
underground.  So  when  you  see 
the  little  mounds  of  earth  in 
the  garden  you  will  know  that 
the  little  animal  that  is  hidden 
belowr  them  is  working  hard  to 
do  its  Maker's  will ;  and  I  hope 
the  sight  will  make  you  say  to 
yourself,  "  Am  I  as  busy  serv- 
ing God  and  doing  what  he 
tells  me  to  do  as  that  little 
mole  is?" 

A  mole  seems  a  funny  crea- 
ture to  pet,  and  yet  a  gentle- 
man kept  one  once  that  he 
might  watch  it  at  its  work.  At 
first  he  could  not  find  anything 


104  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

that  would  do  for  its  house ; 
but  at  last  it  was  put  into  a 
very  large  tub  filled  with  earth, 
for  you  know  it  would  not 
live  if  it  had  not  some  earth  in 
which  to  bury  itself. 

As  soon  as  it  found  itself  in 
the  tub  it  sank  instantly  out 
of  sight;  and  though  its  mas- 
ter wanted  very  much  to  see 
it  at  work,  it  would  never  come 
above  ground  ;  and  the  only 
way  in  which  he  could  watch 
it  was  by  digging  it  out,  and 
letting  it  run  along  a  hard 
gravel-walk. 

You  would  think  it  would  be 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.    105 

pleased  to  get  free  to  have  a 
run  in  the  bright  sunshine  af- 
ter having  been  so  long  in  the 
dark,  underground  ;  but  no  :  di- 
rectly it  was  loose  it  began 
trying  to  find  a  place  soft 
enough  for  a  tunnel,  by  which 
it  might  hide  itself  again  deep 
down  in  the  earth.  Several 
times,  when  it  had  nearly  suc- 
ceeded, it  was  dragged  out 
again ;  but  at  last  it  slipped 
off  the  path  on  to  a  soft  place, 
and  in  an  instant  was  gone 
quite  out  of  sight.  They  tried 
to  dig  it  up  again,  but  it  could 
dig  faster  than  any  spade,  and 


106  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

so  the  pet  mole  was  never  seen 
any  more.  Now,  these  little 
animals  are  not  very  sociable ; 
though  they  have  such  beau- 
tifully made  little  houses  un- 
derground, they  keep  them  all 
to  themselves,  and  if  another 
mole  wrere  to  corne  in  and  try 
to  make  his  house  in  the  same 
hill  as  one  of  his  friends,  he 
would  either  be  driven  out 
very  quickly,  or  there  would 
be  a  very  fierce  battle  to  decide 
who  should  be  master  ;  and 
the  two  little  animals  would 
go  on  fighting  till  one  or  other 
of  them  was  killed. 


THE  HEDGEHOG  AND  ITS  COUSIN.    107 

You  would  not  have  thought 
that  that  black,  stupid-looking 
creature  could  be  so  savage, 
would  you  ?  but  it  really  is  one 
of  the  fiercest  of  animals,  and, 
except  when  it  is  asleep,  it 
spends  the  whole  of  its  time 
hunting  for  insects  and  small 
animals  for  food,  venturing  in- 
to all  sorts  of  dangers  without 
the  least  fear,  if  there  is  a 
chance  of  finding  some  prey. 

It  will  even  go  into  the  wa- 
ter, and  swim  boldly  across  a 
stream,  if  the  creature  it  is 
chasing  is  a  water  animal ;  for, 
besides  being  able  to  dig  so 


108  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

well,  the  mole  is  a  first-rate 
swimmer  ;  his  feet  are  more 
like  hands  than  claws,  and  do 
just  as  well  to  help  him  in 
swimming  as  in  digging. 

So  God  has  provided  for  all 
these  creatures'  wants.  They 
live  almost  altogether  under- 
ground, in  the  dark ;  so  he  has 
given  to  them  very  weak,  small 
eyes;  but  if  they  cannot  see 
well,  they  have  very  sharp 
ears,  and  can  hear  the  least 
noise  made  by  a  worm  creeping 
near  them,  or  by  an  insect 
buzzing  near  the  entrance  of 
their  holes. 


SHREW-MICE. 

ERHAPS  you  would  never 
have  thought  that  the  lit- 
tle creature  you  see  in  the 
picture  could  be  any  relation 
to  the  clumsy,  fat  hedgehog' 
you  have  just  been  reading 
about,  or  to  the  groping,  dig- 
ging little  mole;  but  it  really 
is  very  nearly  related  to  both 

of  them. 

» 

Look  at  its  pointed  nose ;  is 
it  not  something  like  that  of 
the  hedgehog  ?  And  if  it  would 


110  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

open  its  mouth  and  show  you 
its  teeth,  you  would  see  they 
are  very  sharp  and  pointed, 
just  like  those  of  both  its  cous- 
ins. 

Now,  though  this  little  ani- 
mal is  called  a  shrew-mouse, 
you  must  not  think  it  is  at  all 
like  the  little  creatures  which 
we  were  talking  about  in  the 
first  chapter,  —  the  little  mice 
you  have  so  often  seen  running 
about ;  or,  if  you  have  not  seen 
them,  for  they  are  very  timid, 
and  do  not  like  to  be  seen,  I 
am  sure  you  must  have  often 
heard  them. 


SHREW-MICE.  Ill 

But  the  little  shrew-mouse 
is  a  very  different  creature ;  it 
lives  in  the  fields,  and  may  be 
often  seen  hunting  for  and  feed- 
ing on  the  insects  and  worms 
wrhich  are  its  food. 

Now,  it  is  a  very  innocent 
little  animal,  and  never  does 
any  harm,  and  so  nobody  is 
afraid  of  it  ;  but  a  long  time 
ago  everybody  thought  it  was 
a  poisonous  animal,  and  did  a 
great  deal  of  harm. 

They  really  thought  that  if 
this  pretty  little  thing  touched 
the  body  of  a  cow,  or  a  horse, 
or  any  other  animal,  it  would 


112  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

hurt  it  very  much  ;  and  if  any 
of  these  creatures  were  taken 
ill  they  were  always  quite  sure 
that  it  was  because  a  little 
shrew  had  touched  it,  or  run 
over  it. 

That  was  very  silly,  was  it 
not?  And  the  way  in  which 
they  tried  to  cure  the  sick  ani- 
mal was  still  more  foolish,  and, 
what  is  worse,  very  cruel  too. 

They  used  to  look  for  an  ash 
tree,  and  when  they  had  found 
one,  what  do  you  think  they 
did  ?  They  made  a  little  hole 
in  the  side  of  the  trunk,  and 
having  taken  prisoner  a  poor 


SHREW-MICE.  113 

little  shrew,  they  put  him 
alive  into  the  hole  in  the  tree, 
and  then  fastened  it  up  tight, 
so  that  he  could  not  get  out, 
but  died  from  want  of  air. 

What  could  be  the  use  of 
treating  him  so  cruelly  ?  What 
good  could  it  do  to  the  cow 
or  the  horse  that  was  ill  ? 
None  at  all,  of  course ;  but 
these  silly  people  thought  that 
the  leaves  of  the  tree  in  which 
the  poor  shrew  died  were  the 
best  medicine  the  invalid  could 
have,  and  were  quite  sure  it 
would  get  well  directly  it  had 
eaten  some  of  them. 

8 


114  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

Perhaps  you  may  have  seen 
some  very  old  trees  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  which  are 
called  shrew-ashes.  There  is 
one  in  Richmond  Park:  it  is 
very  much  broken,  and  has  not 
many  leaves  on  it,  and  I  dare- 
say will  not  live  very  much 
longer  ;  but  if  you  should  ever 
see  it,  you  will  remember  what 
I  have  told  you  about  these 
trees,  and  the  poor  little  shrews 
who  were  so  cruelly  killed  in 
them. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  kind 
of  shrew  there  is.  You  remem- 
ber I  told  you  that  this  one  lived 


SHREW-MICE.  115 

in  the  fields  and  fed  on  worms ; 
but  there  is  another  shrew  that 
lives  in  the  water,  and  eats  the 
insects  and  little  fishes  which 
it  finds  there.  Both  these  lit- 
tle creatures  have  very  pointed 
noses  and  long  tails;  but  the 
one  that  lives  in  the  water  has 
a  very  nice  smooth  coat,  very 
like  the  coat  of  the  mole,  and 
when  it  comes  out  of  the  pond 
where  it  has  been  swimming 
about,  it  looks  as  shiny  and 
silky  as  if  it  were  made  of  velvet. 
This  little  creature  seems  to 
lead  a  very  happy  life.  It  is 
so  lively  and  merry,  it  has  so 


116  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

niany  funny  ways,  and  is  always 
so  busy  and  active,  that  I  think 
it  can  hardly  have  time  to  be 
unhappy. 

If  you  were  to  find  out  a 
place  where  these  shrews  live, 
down  by  the  edge  of  a  pond, 
and  were  to  sit  down  near  it 
to  watch  them,  you  would  see 
many  things  that  would  amuse 
you,  and  you  would  almost 
forget  that  they  are  only 
little  mice,  and  have  not  the 
sense  you  have,  when  you  see 
the  games  they  play,  and  all 
their  funny  tricks. 

They  are  very  much  afraid 


SHREW-MICE.  117 

of  large  animals,  and  especially 
of  men;  and  though  you  are 
very  small,  and  would  make 
very  little  noise,  still,  if  you 
speak  or  laugh,  they  will  all 
run  away  as  fast  as  their  little 
legs  will  carry  them.  But  if 
you  are  very  quiet,  they  will 
not  find  out  you  are  anywhere 
near,  and  then  you  will  see 
them  swimming  about  in  the 
water,  chasing  the  insects,  and 
especially  a  large  water  beetle 
which  they  are  always  very 
anxious  to  catch,  for  it  is  their 
favorite  food;  and  then  when 
they  have  caught  it,  they  do 


118  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

not  eat  it  in  the  water,  but 
bring  it  safely  ashore,  and  hay- 
ing found  out  a  nice  dry  stone, 
they  sit  down  to  take  their 
dinner  comfortably.  And  now 
see  in  what  a  funny  way  they 
eat.  They  do  not  lay  the  in- 
sect down  on  the  stone  before 
them,  and  bite  it  while  it  lies 
on  the  ground,  but  they  take 
it  up  between  their  two  fore- 
paws,  and,  holding  it  very 
tightly,  as  if  they  were  still 
afraid  it  might  escape,  they 
begin  their  feast. 

And    then,  when    dinner  is 
over,  and  they  have  had  a  little 


SHREW-MICE.        -  119 

nap,  they  all  go  out  for  a  walk, 
or  rather  for  a  rim,  for  the 
water-shrew  is  such  an  active 
little  fellow  that  he  does  not 
often  move  slowly,  but  runs  as 
fast  as  such  tiny  feet  can  possi- 
bly go.  Well,  their  walk  is 
generally  backwards  and  for- 
wards by  the  edge  of  the  pond ; 
and  when  they  pass  each  other 
in  their  turns,  they  both  give 
a  sharp  cry,  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  Good-morning,"  or,  "  How  do 
you  do  ?  "  just  as  you  would  do 
if  you  met  a  little  friend  in 
your  walks. 

A   gentleman   was   walking 


120  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

one  evening  in  his  orchard,  a 
little  before  sunset,  and  watch- 
ing the  flies  and  insects  swim- 
ming about  in  a  little  pool  of 
clear  water,  when  all  at  once 
he  saw  something  that  looked 
like  a  very  large  beetle  dart 
through -the  water,  and  disap- 
pear in  the  grass  on  the  bank. 
He  waited  a  little  while  to 
see  if  it  would  come  out  again ; 
and  very  soon  he  spied  it  leav- 
ing its  hole,  and,  diving  under 
water,  bury  itself  among  the 
leaves  at  the  bottom  of  the 
pool,  and  then  he  saw  that  it 
was  a  little  shrew-mouse.  After 


SHREW-MICE.  121 

staying  there  a  few  minutes  it 
came  up  again,  and  once  more 
went  to  its  hole  in  the  bank, 
most  likely  to  eat  some  insect 
it  had  caught  among  the  mud 
and  leaves  under  water.  Sev- 
eral times  it  went  backwards 
and  forwards,  but  it  always 
seemed  very  timid,  and  dived 
under  water  at  the  least  noise. 

This  little  creature  did  not 
live  alone  in  the  pool :  it  had  a 
mate  just  like  itself,  only  much 
more  slender  and  delicate  look- 
ing, her  coat  too  being  of  a 
lighter  brown. 

The  gentleman  used  often  to 


J22  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

look  for  them  when  they  came 
out  of  their  hole  in  the  even- 
ings, for  they  were  never  seen 
in  the  daytime ;  and  to  watch 
their  graceful  movements  in 
the  water,  and  to  listen  to  their 
short,  sharp  cries  to  each  other, 
was  his  great  delight  for  some 
months,  and  very  sorry  indeed 
he  was  when,  about  the  end 
of  May,  they  both  disappeared, 
and  he  never  saw  them  again. 
The  little  water-shrew  has 
one  great  enemy,  and  that  is 
the  weasel.  This  long,  thin 
creature  lives  on  small  animals, 
and  it  often  chases  the  little 


SHREW-MICE.  123 

shrew,  and*  frightens  it  very 
much  ;  but  if  it  is  near  the 
water,  it  can  always  escape  by 
diving  below  the  surface,  where 
the  weasel  cannot  follow  it. 

What  a  good  thing  it  is  for 
the  little  shrew  that  it  knows 
how  to  .dive  !  and  how  kind 
and  wise  that  great  God  is  who 
knows  all  the  dangers  and 
wants  of  all  these  tiny  animals, 
and  takes  such  care  of  them ! 


SQUIRRELS. 

'E  have  been  talking  about 
many  different  little  ani- 
l®  mals,  all  of  them  very  curi- 
ous, and  some  of  them  very  pret- 
ty and  interesting ;  but  I  think 
there  is  one  that  is  far  prettier 
than  any  we  have  had  yet,  and 
that  is  the  little  Squirrel. 

I  should  think  that  most  of 
you  must  have  seen  a  squirrel 
at  some  time  or  other,  either  a 
tame  one  in  a  little  round  cage, 
or  a  much  happier  wild  one 


SQUIRRELS.  125 

living  in  tile  woods  among  the 
tall  fir  trees.  If  you  have  only 
seen  them  shut  up  in  a  cage, 
you  do  not  know  much  about 
them,  for  there  they  look  the 
most  quiet  creatures  in  the 
world,  as  if  they  cared  for  noth- 
ing but  twirling  round  and 
round  all  day  long,  making  one 
feel  quite  giddy  to  look  at 
them  ;  but  if  you  saw  them  in 
the  woods  where  they  were 
born,  and  where  they  ought 
always  to  be,  you  would  say 
that  they  are  the  happiest, 
merriest  little  animals  you  have 
ever  seen ;  and  so  they  are. 


126  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

Some  years  ago,  when  I  was 
staying  in  the  country,  it  hap- 
pened that  close  to  the  side  of 
the  house  where  my  bedroom 
was,  there  grew  some  tall  fir 
trees,  the  long  branches  of 
which  used  almost  to  touch  my 
window,  and  in  these  trees, 
sheltered  from  the  cold  by  their 
dark,  thick  leaves,  some  dear 
little  squirrels  had  made  their 
home. 

Wild  little  animals  they  were 
indeed,  but  oh,  so  happy !  — 
How  any  one  can  shut  up  those 
merry  little  things  in  a  tiny 
cage,  so  small  that  they  can 


SQUIRRELS.  127 

hardly  turn  round  in  it,  I  never 
can  imagine.  I  used  to  love  to 
watch  them  as  they  ran  along 
the  long,  thin  branches  which 
shook  beneath  their  feet;  com- 
ing so  close  to  the  window 
that  they  could  almost  peep  in, 
and  say,  Good-morning  ;  and 
then,  if  I  made  any  noise, 
scampering  off  again  with  their 
tails  over  their  backs,  and  their 
bright  eyes  twinkling,  to  hide 
themselves  in  some  dark  part 
of  the  tree.  But  though  squir- 
rels are  generally  very  timid, 
these  little  friends  of  ours 
seemed  to  have  found  out  some- 


128  LITTLE  ANIMALS: 

how  or  other  that  we  would 
not  hurt  them;  and  so  they 
grew  very  bold.  There  were 
some  fine  chestnut  trees  on  our 
lawn  before  the  dining-room 
window;  and  the  squirrels  were 
not  long  in  finding  them  out, 
and  in  making  frequent  jour- 
neys to  them  when  the  nuts 
were  ripe.  Now  we,  too,  were 
fond  of  chestnuts,  and  would 
have  liked  to  keep  some  for 
ourselves  ;  but,  unfortunately, 
we  could  not  climb  like  our 
little  friends,  and  so  our  share 
was  very  small.  For  they 
would  run  across  the  gravel- 


SQUIRRELS.  129 

paths,  scamper  over  the  lawn, 
and  be  high  up  in  the  trees 
before  we  could  get  near  to 
frighten  them  away  ;  and  often 
and  often  I  have  seen  the  little 
things  perched  on  the  very 
highest  boughs,  cracking  the 
nuts  with  their  sharp  little 
teeth,  or  carrying  them  off 
with  great  delight,  to  be  hid- 
den in  some  safe  place  till  they 
were  wanted  in  the  winter- 
time. 

And-  where  do  you  think 
their  store-rooms  are?  Either 
a  hole  deep  in  the  ground,  or 
in  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  serves' 

.  9 


130  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

for  a  cupboard  to  keep  their 
food  in  till  the  cold  weather 
comes ;  for,  like  the  little 
mouse,  the  squirrel  is  obliged 
to  save  up  some  of  its  summer 
food  to  eat  in  the  winter.  The 
nuts  which  it  can  find  so  easi- 
ly in  the  autumn,  and  the  corn 
in  harvest-time,  are  what  the 
squirrel  loves  best ;  and  this  is 
why  God  has  given  to  it  such 
active  little  feet,  and  taught  it 
to  climb  and  run  so  well.  And 
so,  when  it  sees  the  snow  on 
the  ground,  and  hears  the  wind 
making  such  a  noise  among 
the  trees,  the  little  squirrel  is 


SQUIRRELS.  131 

not  afraid  that  it  will  die  ei- 
ther of  cold  or  hunger,  for  it 
has  plenty  of  food  to  last  a  long 
while ;  and  such  a  warm  coat, 
and  such  a  nice  little  nest,  that 
it  can  put  up  with  a  good  deal 
of  cold,  even  though  it  has  not 
a  fire  as  you  have. 

Now,  sometimes  this  prudent 
little  animal  does  not  hide  its 
nuts  and  acorns  all  in  the  same 
hole.  Sometimes  it  digs  a  hole 
for  each  nut  and  each  acorn ; 
and  then,  as  it  buries  so  many 
every  year,  it  is  hardly  likely 
that  it  can  remember  where  it 
has  put  them  all. 


132  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

A  lady  was  walking  about 
in  a  wood,  when  she  noticed  a 
squirrel  sitting  at  the  bottom 
of  a  tree ;  it  was  so  busily  oc- 
cupied that  she  stood  still  to 
watch  it,  and  in  a  few  moments 
it  darted  like  lightning  from 
the  ground,  and  in  an  instant 
was  at  the  top  of  the  tree  be- 
neath which  it  had  been  sit- 
ting. 

After  staying  a  few  minutes, 
she  saw  it  again  on  the  ground, 
holding  an  acorn  in  its  mouth, 
It  instantly  began  to  dig  a  hole 
in  the  ground  with  its  paws, 
and  when  it  was  big  enough, 


SQUIRRELS.  133 

the  acorn  was  put  in,  and  neat- 
ly covered  up  with  earth. 

It  then  returned  to  the  tree, 
bringing  down  another  acorn, 
and  this  it  did  many  times  till 
it  had  safely  buried  a  great 
many.  And  do  you  think  it 
would  find  them  all  again  ? 
Oh  no !  I  daresay  many  of 
them  would  be  dug  up  and 
eaten  in  the  winter;  but  still 
most  likely  it  would  lose  a  few, 
and  then,  what  would  become 
of  them  ?  Why,  they  would 
grow  up  into  great  tall  trees, 
oak  trees,  bearing  acorns  to 
feed  other  squirrels,  perhaps 


134  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

the  great-grandchildren  of  the 
very  squirrel  who  hid  them, 
little  thinking  what  would  be- 
come of  them. 

A  great  many  of  those  tall 
oak  trees,  which  make  our 
woods  look  so  beautiful,  have, 
I  daresay,  been  planted  by  these 
tiny  animals :  and  so,  without 
knowing  it  themselves,  they 
are  very  useful  to  us;  for  be- 
sides the  cool  shadows  which 
the  thick  leaves  of  the  oak  cast 
for  us  on  a  hot  sunny  day,  it 
is  a  very  valuable  tree  because 
of  its  wood,  of  which  so  many 
useful  things  are  made. 


SQUIRRELS.  135 

Now,  when  we  see  how  hap- 
py and  useful  the  little  squirrel 
is  in  the  woods,  it  always  seems 
to  me  very  cruel  to  make  pets 
of  them,  and  shut  them  up  in 
cages.  They  may  grow  con- 
tented, and  perhaps  happy,  in 
prison,  and  I  daresay  they  often 
do ;  but  I  feel  quite  sure  they 
would  be  still  happier  in  the 
open  air ;  free  to  go  where  they 
like.  Still,  people  do  not  al- 
ways think  so;  and  they  like 
to  have  a  little  squirrel  in  a 
cage,  and  try  to  tame  it,  and 
make  it  amusing  and  playful. 
I  will  tell  you  a  story  of  a  pet 


136  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

squirrel,  and  then  you  can  make 
up  your  mind  whether  you  will 
choose  one  of  these  dear  little 
creatures  for  your  pet  or  not. 

This  little  fellow  was  caught 
in  a  wood,  and  brought  in  a 
box  to  a  gentleman's  house, 
where  a  cage  was  got  for  it, 
and  everything  to  make  it  com- 
fortable and  happy  was  provid- 
ed. Chestnuts  and  almonds  and 
acorns  were  put  into  the  cage 
for  its  dinner,  and  the  lady  to 
whom  it  belonged  tried  to  coax 
it  to  come  out  and  feed.  But 
no  :  it  would  not  move,  but 
sat  squeezed  up  in  a  corner, 


SQUIRRELS.  137 

arid  never  touched  anything 
that  was  put  before  it,  or  took 
the  smallest  notice  of  any- 
thing. 

Now,  when  the  lady  saw  how 
unhappy  it  seemed,  she  was 
very  sorry  she  had  put  it  into 
the  cage,  and  wished  she  could 
set  it  free  again ;  but  then  it 
was  winter-time,  and  the  snow, 
was  on  the  ground,  and  as  the 
squirrel  had  been  brought  from 
a  great  distance,  she  knew  that 
it  would  not  be  able  to  find  its 
way  to  its  old  nest,  or  to  make 
itself  a  new  one. 

She  therefore  determined  to 


138  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

set  him  free  again  as  soon  as 
the  spring  came,  and  till  then 
she  would  try  to  make  him  as 
happy  as  she  could. 

Well,  all  day  long  the  poor 
little  thing  never  moved  from 
the  corner  of  the  cage  ;  but 
when  the  evening  came  he 
ventured  out,  and  began  to 
gnaw  at  the  wooden  part  of 
his  cage. 

The  lady  thought  that  of 
course  he  would  never  be  able 
to  get  out  in  that  way,  and  was, 
therefore,  very  much  aston- 
ished when,  with  a  sudden 
crash,  the  side  of  the  cage  gave 


SQUIRRELS.  131) 

way,  and  the  squirrel  bounded 
into  the  middle  of  the  room, 
screaming  with  joy  to  find  him- 
self really  free. 

Now,  all  this  happened  in 
the  middle  of  the  night,  when 
the  lady  was  in  bed;  but  as 
she  knew  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  catch  him  in  the 
dark,  she  let  him  frisk  about 
the  room  till  the  morning 
dawned.  And  very  merry  he 
was,  thinking  that  though  it 
was  nothing  like  so  nice  as  a 
fir  forest,  a  large  room  to  jump 
about  in  was  much  better  than 
that  horrid  cage. 


140  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

His  merry  pranks,  his  jumps 
from  one  corner  of  the  room  to 
the  other,  quite  prevented  his 
mistress  from  going  to  sleep 
again ;  so  she  lay  still  and 
watched  his  gambols;  but  just 
as  it  was  growing  light,  she 
heard  a  rattling  among  the 
china  ornaments  on  the  chim- 
ney-piece, and  looking  up  she 
saw  Master  Squirrel  seated  in 
great  state  on  the  top  of  her 
favorite  vase,  looking  as  happy 
and  contented  as  if  he  was  once 
more  on  the  topmost  bough  of 
a  fir  tree. 

Every  minute   she  expected 


SQUIRRELS.  141 

to  see  it  smashed  to  pieces  on 
the  ground ;  but  no :  the  tiny 
feet  of  the  squirrel  did  no  harm 
at  all,  and  with  another  bound 
he  was  soon  far  away  from  the 
treasures  on  the  chimney-piece, 
only  sweeping  the  dust  off  them 
with  his  long  feathery  tail  as 
he  sprang. 

But  when  morning  came, 
his  games  were  soon  over ;  and 
though  he  tried  hard  to  escape, 
he  was  once  more  shut  up  in 
his  hated  cage,  never  more  to 
be  free. 

For  two  days  he  lay  quite 
still  in  one  corner,  never  touch- 


142  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

ing  his  food,  nor  raising  his  lit- 
tle head,  and  the  third  day  he 
died.  Poor  little  fellow  !  he 
could  not  bear  to  be  a  pris- 
oner; and  when  he  found  he 
could  not  escape,  he  died  of  a 
broken  heart. 

Now,  I  do  not  say  that  all 
pet  squirrels  are  as  unhappy  as 
this  one  was  ;  many  of  them 
grow  quite  tame  and  contented; 
but  I  am  sure  they  are  always 
much  happier  in  the  woods 
and  fields ;  indeed,  it  would  be 
very  strange  if  they  were  not, 
for  nobody  likes  to  be  a  pris- 
oner if  he  can  be  free.  How 


SQUIRRELS.  143 

would  you  like  to  be  shut  up 
always  in  a  tiny  room,  and 
never  to  stir  out  of  it  ?  Not  at 
all,  you  say  ;  you  like  to  be 
able  to  go  where  you  like,  and 
do  what  you  like.  And  so  does 
the  little  squirrel. 

And  then,  when  we  remem- 
ber what  a  short  time  these 
little  animals  have  to  live,  and 
that  they  have  no  new  life  to 
begin  after  death  as  we  have, 
no  long  life  of  happiness  in  an- 
other world ;  when  we  remem- 
ber this,  I  think  we  should  be 
very  sorry  to  make  their  little 
life  here  an  unhappy  one,  when 


144  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

it  friight  have  been  so  glad  and 
merry ;  and  I  think  we  should 
rather  try  to  be  as  kind  to  them 
as  we  can,  remembering  that 
they  are  God's  creatures,  and 
not  ours ;  and  that  without 
them  our  world  would  not  be 
half  so  beautiful,  or  so  pleasant 
and  cheerful  as  it  is  now. 

Now,  you  know,  I  told  you 
that  the  little  squirrel  when  he 
buries  his  acorns  or  chestnuts 
often  forgets  where  he  puts 
them,  and  cannot  find  them 
again ;  and  that  then  the  little 
acorn  takes  root  in  the  ground, 
and  by-and-by  there  comes  up 


SQUIRRELS.  145 

a  tree,  which  grows  very  tall 
and  very  beautiful ;  and  so  the 
little  animal  that  planted  it  is 
very  useful.  And  then,  after  it 
is  dead,  we  use  its  fur  to  make 
warm  muffs,  and  cloaks  to  keep 
us  warm  in  the  winter-time. 
Now,  this  fur  is  red  in  sum- 
mer-time, and  does  not  look 
at  all  like  the  muffs  which  we 
use,  but  in  some  cold  countries 
the  hair  changes  color  in  the 
winter,  and  becomes  the  pretty 
gray  fur  which  we  use  so  much. 
I  daresay  some  of  you  have 
got  muffs  or  boas  made  out  of 

squirrels'   fur  ;  if  so,   did  you 

10 


146  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

ever  think  that  that  nice  soft 
stuff  was  once  the  coat  of  one 
of  these  happy  little  creatures ; 
the  warm  coat  that  God  gave 
it  for  two  reasons  —  first,  that 
it  might  be  able  to  bear  the 
cold  winds  and  snowy  weather 
of  its  native  country ;  and  then 
that  when  the  squirrel  had 
done  with  it,  it  might  be  used 
to  keep  you  warm?  Did  you 
ever  think  of  this?  And  do 
you  not  agree  with  me  that  all 
God's  ways  are  very  wonderful  ? 
Even  in  such  little  things  as  the 
squirrel's  coat,  see  how  beauti- 
fully he  has  planned  it  all ! 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS. 

ND  now  for  a  few  words  * 
about  cats.  They  are  so 
much  bigger  than  any  of 
the  other  animals  that  we  have 
been  talking  about,  that  I  have 
kept  them  to  the  last,  because, 
as  our  first  chapter  was  about 
the  smallest  of  little  four-legged 
animals,  the  mouse,  I  thought 
the  largest  of  our  little  friends 
should  wait  till  the  end. 

Nowr,  I  am  not  going  to  tell 
you  what  a  cat  is  like,  as  I  did 


148  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

with  the  other  creatures  in  this 
little  book,  nor  am  I  going  to 
ask  you  to  tell  me,  for  if  I  did 
I  am  sure  you  would  all  speak 
at  once,  and  there  would  be 
such  a  noise  that  I  should  not 
be  able  to  hear  a  word;  for 
you  have  seen  cats  as  long  as 
you  can  remember,  and  most 
likely  have  had  many  pet  cats 
of  your  own. 

Yes,  cats  are  very  common 
creatures,  but  I  do  not  think 
we  like  them  any  the  less  for 
that ;  I  like  to  see  them  in  ev- 
ery house,  and  I  think  that 
home  would  hardly  seem  like 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  149 

home  to   us  if  dear  old  puss 
were  not  there. 

Now,  there  are  many  differ- 
ent kinds  of  cats  :  there  are 
our  own  tame  cats  in  England, 
black  and  white,  tabby  and 
tortoiseshell,  all  of  them  very 
pretty  ;  and  then  in  countries 
far  away  there  are  wild  cats,  an- 
imals which  are  very  like  the 
tame  ones,  only  that  they  have 
such  a  wild,  fierce  look  about 
their  eyes,  and  sometimes  very 
rough  coats.  And  then  there 
are  Smyrna  and  Persian  cats, 
which  have  very  long,  silky 
fur ;  and  Egyptian  and  Nubian 


150  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

cats,  which  are  more  like  Eng- 
lish ones. 

A  great  many  years  ago, 
these  Egyptian  cats  were  con- 
sidered very  holy,  and  wor- 
shipped as  if  they  were  gods. 
Only  think  .  of  making  a  cat 
into  a  god,  and  praying  to  it ! 

But  the  silly  Egyptians  knew 
no  better,  and  had  many  false 
gods,  and  perhaps  pussy  was  as 
good  an  idol  as  a  block  of  wood 
or  stone,  as  neither  could  do 
any  good  or  hear  any  prayers 
that  might  be  offered  to  them. 

So  every  family  in  Egypt 
had  its  holy  cat,  and  if  any 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  151 

accident  happened,  if  the  house 
was  on  fire,  the  very  first  thing 
the  people  thought  of  was  their 
precious  cat.  Till  it  was  safe 
no  one  else  was  thought  of;  the 
little  children  were  not  of  half 
so  much  consequence,  nor  the 
grown-up  people  either. 

Much  as  we  like  our  own 
pussies,  we  certainly  do  not 
think  so  much  of  them  as  this, 
do  we  ?  Oh  no !  they  are  very 
nice,  useful  pets,  but  we  do  not 
love  them  as  we  do  each  other 
—  not  a  quarter  as  much ;  for 
they  cannot  talk  to  'us  nor  un- 
derstand what  we  say  to  them, 


152  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

as  our  mammas  and  papas, 
brothers  and  sisters  do. 

Still  they  can  understand  a 
great  deal,  can  they  not  ?  They 
know  quite  well  if  we  are  an- 
gry or  pleased  with  them,  and 
sometimes  they  almost  seem  to 
understand  the  words  we  say. 

A  little  child  once  had  a  kit- 
ten which  was  a  great  pet  of 
his,  and  the  two  were  never  so 
happy  as  when  they  were  lying 
on  th£  hearthrug  together,  kit- 
ty being  clasped  in  its  little 
master's  arms,  with  its  head 
pressed  against  his  face.  To 
everybody  else  puss  was  very 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  153 

cross,  but  to  little  Johnny  it 
was  always  gentle  and  loving; 
and  though  other  people  often 
got  scratches  and  snarls,  it 
never  hurt  its  little  master.  One 
day,  when  a  little  brother  was 
at  play  with  Johnny,  the  cat 
being  in  the  room,  though  not 
joining  in  the  game  as  it  often 
did,  in  the  midst  of  their  romps, 
puss,  who  was  quietly  dosing 
in  a  corner,  was  startled  by 
a  loud  scream  from  its  little 
friend.  Thinking  of  course  that 
he  must  be  very  much  hurt  to 
make  such  a  noise,  and  that 
his  little  playfellow  must  have 


154  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

done  the  mischief,  the  cat  flew 
in  a  great  rage  at  Johnny's 
brother,  and  would  very  likely 
have  hurt  him  a  great  deal,  if 
Johnny  had  not  taken  his  part, 
and  somehow  or  other  made 
pussy  understand  that  he  had 
not  done  any  harm  at  all. 

I  have  heard  of  another  cat 
that  was  just  as  unsociable,  and 
made  friends  with  only  one 
person  in  the  house,  refusing  to 
take  any  notice  of  any  one  else. 
It  was  called  Lee  Boo,  and  had 
been  found,  when  quite  a  little 
kitten,  in  a  hole  in  the  garden 
wall.  It  was  a  beautiful  kit- 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  155 

ten,  with  a  very  shiny  black 
coat  ;  and  as  soon  as  it  was 
brought  into  the  house,  it  took 
a  great  fancy  to  a  lady  who 
was  dressed  in  black  :  perhaps 
it  thought  she  must  be  a  nice 
person  because  she  wore  the 
same  colored  clothes  as  it  did. 
I  do  riot  know  about  that,  but 
ever  after  it  seemed  very  fond 
of  her,  and  went  with  her  to 
every  place  that  she  visited. 

Sometimes,  when  she  had 
been  out  t  for  a  walk,  and  was 
returning  home,  Lee  Boo  would 
run  half-way  down  the  street 
to  meet  her ;  and  when  she  was 


156  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

ill,  lie  sat  for  hours  outside  the 
bedroom  door,  trying  to  get  in ; 
and  if  he  succeeded,  he  would 
jump  on  the  bed  and  lick  his 
mistress's  hand,  and  purr  as  loud 
as  he  could,  to  show  his  joy  at 
seeing* her  again. 

I  daresay  you  are  fond  of  lit- 
tle kittens,  and  are  very  pleased 
when  you  hear  that  Mrs.  Puss 
has  got  some  little  children  — 
two,  three,  four,  five,  or  perhaps 
even  six  little  children.  But 
you  are  not  half  so  pleased 
as  puss  is  herself,  for  she  is  a 
very  good  mother,  and  is  very 
fond  of  her  little  ones,  and  very 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  157 

proud  indeed  of  them  too,  some- 
times. 

A  lady  who  lived  in  Edin- 
burgh had  a  very  handsome 
cat  which  was  very  fond  of  her, 
and  had  lived  with  her  for 
some  time.  After  a  while,  how- 
ever, puss  was  packed  up  in  a 
basket,  and  sent  as  a  present 
to  a  lady  living  at  Glasgow, 
who  received  her  very  kindly, 
and  took  great  care  of  her  for 
two  months.  Then  there  were 
two  little  kittens  borft,  and  as 
puss  was  very  busy  taking  care 
of  them,  her  mistress  did  not 
watch  her  quite  so  much  as  she 


158  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

had  before,  for  she  thopght 
there  could  be  no  fear  of  her 
running  away  now. 

But  she  was  mistaken  :  after 
a  few  days,  the  cat  and  her  kit- 
tens both  vanished.  They  hunt- 
ed everywhere  for  them ;  but 
they  were  gone,  and  nothing 
was  heard  of  them  for  a  fort- 
night. 

At  last,  one  day,  her  first  mis- 
tress, in  Edinburgh,  thought 
she  heard  pussy's  mew  at  the 
street-dodr  of  her  house ;  and 
when  they  opened  the  door 
there  she  was,  with  both  her 
kittens,  safe  and  sound.  I  sup- 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  159 

pose  she  wanted  to  show  her 
pretty  little  children  to  her  old 
friend;  and  so  she  had  taken 
this  long  journey  of  forty-four 
miles,  carrying  them  all  the  way. 
Of  course  they  could  not 
walk,  and  she  could  not  carry 
them  both  at  once  ;  so  what  do 
you  think  she  did  ?  Several 
people  saw  her  on  the  way; 
and  they  said  she  carried  one 
kitten  a  little  way,  and  then 
set  it  down  on  the  ground  to 
wait  while  she  went  back  to 
fetch  the  other  ;  and  so  she 
must  have  walked  a  great  deal 
more  than  forty-four  miles  al- 


160  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

together.  No  wonder  she  looked 
very  tired  and  thin  when  she 
reached  her  journey's  end ;  and 
how  she  found  her  way,  I  am 
sure  I  cannot  tell  you. 

Was  she  not  very  persever- 
ing and  courageous  ?  And 
should  you  not  like  to  have 
known  such  a  wise,  clever  cat  ? 
But  cats  are  always  very  bold 
when  their  little  ones  are  in 
clanger,  and  I  could  tell  you 
many,  many  stories  about  cats 
who  fought  for  their  children  ; 
yes,  and  got  very  much  hurt  in 
defending  them,  too. 

One  bright  summer  day  an 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  161 

old  cat  had  taken  all  her  fam- 
ily of  kittens  out  for  a  walk, 
near  the  stable  which  was  their 
home,  thinking,  I  suppose,  that 
the  warm  sun  and  nice  breeze 
would  do  them  good. 

Now,  they  were  all  very  hap- 
py, never  thin'king,  what  a  ter- 
rible enemy  was  near ;  for  fly- 
ing high  overhead  there  was  a 
great  hawk,  a  cruel  bird,  that 
lives  on  tiny  birds  and  animals, 
and  is  always  on  the  lookout 
to  catch  a  chicken  or  a  kitten 
for  his  dinner. 

Now,    though    neither    the . 

mother  nor  her   children  had 

11 


162  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

seen  him,  he  had  seen  them, 
and  was  watching  his  opportu- 
nity to  pounce  upon  one  of 
them.  At  last  down  he  came, 
and  had  seized  one  of  the  kit- 
tens, and  was  flying  off  with  it 
as  fast  as  possible,  when  the 
brave  old  mother  sprang  at  the 
cruel  hawk,  and  began  a  fierce 
battle  for  her  little  one. 

The  great  bird  soon  found 
that  he  could  not  defend  him- 
self and  keep  his  prize  too,  so 
dropping  the  poor  bleeding  kit- 
ten, he  turned  with  all ,  his 
m  might  on  the  poor  mother.  The 
battle  was  a  terrible  one ;  but 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  163 

puss  came  off  victorious,  leav- 
ing her  'enemy  dead  on  the 
ground.  Directly  she  saw  that 
he  was  dead,  she  forgot  all 
about  her  own  wounds,  and  ran 
to  comfort  her  poor  frightened 
kitten,  licking  its  sides,  and 
purring  as  if  to  soothe  its  fears, 
and  kissing  it  to  make  it  well. 
How  those  kittens  ought  to 
have  loved  their  mother,  and 
how  good  they  ought  to  have 
been !  But  kittens,  like  little 
children,  are  sometimes  very 
ungrateful  to  those  who  take 
care  of  them,  arid  forget  all  the 
care  and  love  their  mothers 


164  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

have  shown  them  ever  since 
they  were  born ;  and  very  like- 
ly these  little  creatures  soon 
forgot  their  mamma's  dreadful 
battle  with  the  cruel  hawk, 
and  the  many  wounds  she  got 
in  defending  them. 

If  so,  you  must  not  imitate 
them,  but  always  try  and  re- 
member all  the  kindness  your 
mamma  has  shown  to  you,  and 
repay  her  in  the  only  way  you 
can,  by  loving  her,  and  doing 
what  she  tells  you. 

Sometimes  I  think  that  cats 
and  little  children  are  very 
much  alike ;  they  both  like 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  165 

vejy  much  to  be  petted,  and 
they  both  like  very  much  to 
have  their  own  way ;  and  there 
is  another  thing  in  which  pussy 
is  like  a  little  child.  If  there 
is  a  great  storm  of  thunder  and 
lightning,  cats  often  seem  very 
much  frightened,  and  do  not 
like  to  be  alone;  and  I  think 
too  that  there  are  very  few 
children  who  would  not  rather 
have  somebody  with  them  when 
the  peals  of  thunder  and  the 
bright  flashes  of  lightning  are 
making  them  feel  rather  afraid. 
In  a  family,  living  in  the 
country,  there  were  once  two 


166  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

very  great,  friends,  a  cat  and  a 
dog ;  they  eat  out  of  the  same 
plate,  and  often  sat  close  to- 
gether on  the  same  rug. 

After  a  little  while  Mrs.  Puss 
had  a  family  of  little  kittens  to 
take  care  of,  and  then  she  and 
her  charge  were  lodged  in  a 
garret  at  the  top  of  the  house. 
Of  course  she  stayed  most  part 
of  the  day  with  her  little  chil- 
dren, and  Pincher,  as  her  friend 
the  dog  was  called,  went  up 
every  day  to  see  them,  and  to 
inquire  how  they  were. 

Well,  one  day  there  was  a 
terrible  storm  of  thunder  and 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  167 

lightning,  and  both  Pincher 
and  his  friend  were  very  much 
frightened.  The  dog  came  and 
stayed  close  to  his  mistress's 
side  in  the  drawing-room ;  but 
puss  very  much  would  have 
liked  to  be  there  too,  though 
she  could  not  leave  her  little 
ones  all  alone  in  the  garret; 
for  only  think  how  terrified 
they  would  have  been  at  the 
sound  of  the  thunder,  if  their 
mamma  had  not  been  there  to 
comfort  them. 

But  after  a  little  while  puss 
came  down  stairs  and  went  up 
to  Pincher,  looking  up  in  his 


1G8  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

face  and  mewing  most  piteous- 
ly.  The  dog  took  no  notice,  so 
she  stroked  his  paw,  walked  to 
the  door,  and  stood  there  mew- 
ing, as  much  as  to  say,  "Do 
please  come  with  me."  Still 
he  would  not  move ;  and  after 
trying  to  make  him  do  as  she 
wished  for  some  time,  she  gave 
up  in  despair,  and  went  up 
stairs  again.  After  a  little 
while  her  mistress,  hearing  her 
mewing  most  dismally,  went  to 
see  what  was  the  matter,  and 
then  she  found  that  the  poor 
old  mother  had  been  so  fright- 
ened at  the  flashes  of  lightning 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  109 

which  came  in  at  the  garret 
window,  that  she  had  carried 
one  of  her  kittens  down  into  a 
bedroom,  and  put  it  into  a 
cupboard :  and  now  she  wanted 
Pincher  to  take  care  of  that 
one  while  she  went  to  fetch 
the  other. 

Ifer  mistress  did  not  like  to 
leave  the  poor  thing,  as  she 
seemed  so  frightened,  so  she 
stayed  with  her  and  her  little 
ones  till  the  storm  was  over  and 
all  was  quite  quiet  again  ;  and 
they  quite  forgot  all  about  their 
terror  while  she  was  with  them, 
and  were  as  happy  as  they 


170  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

could  be.  The  next  morning, 
however,  the  old  cat  seemed  to 
have  remembered  that  she  had 
not  thanked  the  lady  for  her 
kindness  in  staying  with  them 
the  night  before ;  so  she  got  up 
early,  and  told  her  little  ones 
that  they  must  do  without  her 
for  a  little  while,  because  she 
must  go  down  stairs  to  do  some 
business.  I  .suppose  the  dear 
little  kittens  promised  they 
would  be  very  good,  and  not 
get  into  any  mischief,  or  fight 
and  quarrel  as  they  did  some- 
times, for  when  the  lady  came 
out  of  her  room  to  go  down  to 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  171 

breakfast,  she  found  Mrs.  Puss 
waiting  for  her,  ready  to  say 
Good-morning. 

,  But  she  had  something  more 
to  say  than  that ;  she  had  come 
down  on  purpose  to  thank  her 
mistress  for  her  kindness  the 
night  before,  and  so  in  a  very 
low  and  gentle  voice  she  mewed 
out  how  much  obliged  she  was, 
and  how  grateful  she  felt.  But 
then  she  was  afraid  that  though 
the  lady  was  very  clever,  and 
knew  a  great  many  things 
much  better  than  she  did,  yet 
she  might  never  have  learned 
cat  language,  and  therefore, 


172  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

perhaps,  did  not  understand 
what  she  meant  by  all  her 
gentle,  loving  mews  ;  so  she 
tried  to  show  by  rubbing  her- 
self against  her,  and  by  purring 
with  all  her  might,  that  she 
had  not  forgotten  how  kind  she 
had  been  to  her  the  night  be- 
fore. And  then  she  followed  her 
down  stairs  to  breakfast,  and 
stayed  there  till  she  thought 
her  mistress  quite  understood 
what  she  meant ;  and  then  she 
went  back  to  her  kittens  quite 
satisfied. 

It  is  very  pleasant  to  think 
that  even  cats  know  when  we 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  173 

try  to  make  them  happy,  and 
that  they  are  grateful  for  our 
kindness,  and  try  to  show  that 
they  are  so  by  their  loving 
ways. 

One  more  story  about  a  cat, 
and  then  I  must  stop,  for  you 
must  be  quite  tired,  I  am  sure. 
This  pussy  lived  in  a  convent 
in  France,  a  place  where  nuns 
live,  and  where  everything  is 
very  quiet  and  still.  No  one 
played  with  her,  nobody  took 
any  notice  of  her,  and  some- 
times, I  think,  she  must  have 
found  it  very  dull. 

Now  it  happened  that  at  din- 


174  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

ner-time  in  the  convent  a  great 
bell  was  always  rung,  and  all 
the  nuns  went  into  a  large  hall 
and  dined  together;  and  when 
pussy  heard  it  go  ding,  dong, 
she  ran  off  too,  as  fast  as  her 
legs  would  carry  her,  to  the 
same  great  hall,  where  she 
found  her  food  put  ready  for 
her  in  one  corner. 

I  think  she  must  have  been 
very  pleased  when  she  heard 
the  dinner-bell,  for  it  gave  her 
something  to  do  ;  and,  poor 
thing,  she  must  have  often 
wanted  something  to  do,  and 
some  change,  for  I  do  not  think 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  175 

that  even  cats  like  to  live  all 
their  lives  izi  the  same  place, 
with  no  one  to  talk  to  them, 
and  no  one  to  notice  them. 

Well,  one  day  it  happened 
that  when  the  bell  for  which 
pussy  listened  so  eagerly  was 
rung,  she  was  shut  up  in  a 
room  at  the  top  of  the  house, 
and  could  not  get  out  to  go 
down  to  her  dinner.  She 
scratched  the  door,  and  whined 
and  mewed  most  piteously ;  but 
it  was  no  use,  and  for  some 
hours  no  one  thought  of  her, 
or  found  out  that  she  had  not 
had  her  dinner.  At  last,  to  her 


176  LITTLE  AXIMALS. 

• 

great  joy,  the  door  opened,  and 
she  was  free.  Down  stairs  she 
ran,  straight  to  the  corner 
where  her  dinner  was  usually 
placed;  but  no  plate  with  its 
nice  heap  of  scraps  of  meat  was 
to  be  seen.  Poor  pussy !  how 
hungry  she  felt  !  What  was 
she  to  do  ?  Must  she  really 
wait  till  the  next  day  before 
she  had  anything  to  eat  ? 
Would  nobody  take  pity  on 
her? 

No;  no  one  seemed  to  be 
thinking  about  her ;  everybody 
else  had  had  dinner,  and  little 
thought  how  hungry  and  faint 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  177 

the  poor  cat  felt ;  but  we  often 
say  that  where  there's  a  will 
there's  a  way,  and  as  pussy  cer- 
tainly had  the  will,  in  a  little 
while  she  found  out  the  way  to 
get  what  she  wanted. 

All  at  once,  on  that  quiet  af- 
ternoon, in  the  old  French  con- 
vent the  nuns  heard  the  great 
dinner-bell  begin  to  ring :  slow- 
ly and  gently  it  went,  as  if  a 
very  weak  hand  was  pulling 
the  rope ;  but  still  it  rang  on. 
What  could  it  be  ringing  for  at 
that  time  of  the  ddy?  Some- 
thing must  be  the  matter,  and 
so  they  all  ran  to  see  what  it 

12 


178  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

was.  And  what  did  they  find, 
do  you  think  ?  Why,  they 
found  Mrs.  Puss  hanging  to 
the  bell-rope,  and  pulling  away, 
as  if  ringing  the  bell  would 
make  her  dinner  come. 

And  so  it  did,  for  the  nuns 
saw  at  once  what  it  was  she 
wanted,  and  pussy  got  a  good 
meal  for  her  pains.  You  see 
she  had  always  heard  the  bell 
ring  at  dinner-time,  and  so 
thought,  of  course,  that  it  had 
something  to  do  with  her  get- 
ting her  food;  and  as  she  had 
been  out  of  the  way  when  it 
rang  before,  she  thought  she 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  179 

would    try    what    pulling    it 
again  would  do. 

I  said  I  would  only  tell  you 
one  more  story ;  but  talking  of 
pussy  ringing  the  bell  puts  me 
in  mind  of  another,  which,  as 
it  is  very  short  and  funny,  I 
will  tell  you.  This  cat  did  not 
live  in  a  convent;  her  home 
was  in  the  kitchen  of  a  gentle- 
man's house,  and  her  great 
friend  was  the  cook.  Now, 
Mrs.  Cook  was  very  fond  of 
pussy,  and  very  kind  to  her; 
but  sometimes  pussy  seemed 
to  think  she  would  rather  be 
alone  in  the  kitchen ;  for,  if  the 


180  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

truth  must  be  told,  she  was  a 
sad  thief,  and  liked  to  be  left 
by  herself,  that  she  might  help 
herself  to  the  good  things  in 
the  kitchen  and  pantry. 

Now,  she  had  found  out  that 
when  a  certain  bell  rang  the 
cook  went  out  of  the  room  for 
a  little  while,  and  then  she 
could  have  a  nice  feast.  But 
this  bell  did  not  ring  quite  so 
often  as  pussy  wished ;  and  she 
began  to  think  whether  she 
could  not  make  it  ring  some- 
times herself.  So  one  clay  the 
cook  found  that  the  bell  called 
her  to  the  door  very  often 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS.  181 

when  there  was  nobody  there ; 
and  she  thought  it  very  strange, 
and  wondered  very  much  what 
was  the  reason  it  rang  so  often. 
Just  while  she  was  wondering 
she  heard  it  again,  and  thought 
she  would  look  at  it  before  she 
went  to  the  door.  She  did  so, 
and  what  was  her  surprise  when 
she  found  Mrs.  Puss  underneath 
the  bell,  every  now  and  then 
giving  a  spring  and  shaking 
the  wire  so  as  to  set  it  going  to 
her  heart's  content. 

But  now  it  is  time  for  you 
to  say  good-by  to  our  little  an- 
imals, and  for  me  to  say  good- 


182  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

by  to  my  little  readers ;  but 
before  I  do  so  I  want  to  re- 
mind you  of  the  text  with 
which  we  began  this  little  book. 
You  remember  what  it  was,  I 
daresay ;  you  remember  that  it 
tells  us  that  no  little  bird  is 
forgotten  by  our  heavenly  Fa- 
ther, however  small  it  may  be ; 
and  I  hope  you  have  not  for- 
gottenr  too,  how  often  we  have 
noticed  God's  great  love  and 
care  for  the  tiny  animals  we 
have  been  talking  about.  Well, 
and  if  he  cares  so  much,  and 
thinks  so  much  about  these 
little  animals  whose  lives  are 


DEAR  OLD  PUSS  183 

so  short,  do  you  not  think  he 
must  care  a  great  deal  more 
about  little  children  who  have 
souls  that  will  live  forever, 
either  in  heaven  or  hell  ?  Yes, 
the  Bible  tells  us  we  are  of 
more  value  than  many  spar- 
rows ;  and  as  God  has  given  to 
the  little  animals  and  birds 
their  daily  food  just  when  they 
want  it,  so  he  has  given  to  us 
not  only  all  we  have  need  of  for 
our  bodies,  but  Jesus  Christ  to 
save  our  souls.  You  know  this, 
do  you  not?  Then  are  you 
not  very  thankful  to  God  for 
all  his  goodness  to  you?  and, 


* 

184  LITTLE  ANIMALS. 

if  so,  how  do  you  try  to  show 
that  you  are  thankful  ? 

The  little  animals  do  not 
know  who  it  is  that  sends  them 
all  their  food,  and  all  they 
want ;  and  yet  they  are  always 
active  and  industrious,  doing 
what  God  has  given  them  to 
do.  Are  you  as  busy  as  they  ? 
Are  you  trying,  like  the  little 
squirrel,  to  gather  together  a 
nice  little  store  for  the  time  to 
come,  a  store  of  knowledge  for 
this  world  and  for  the  world  to 
come  ?  That  is  the  part  of  the 
work  that  God  has  given  you 
to  do :  will  you  not  try  and  do  it  ? 


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taake  taua  self-reliant,  is  conspicuous  in  this.'* 

From  the  New  York  Obterver. 

"Mr.  Abbott  is  known  to  be  a  pure,  successful  and  useful  writer  for  U* 
f*«ng  and  old.  He  is  also  the  most  popular  author  of  juvenile  book* 


from  the  Ballon  Traveler. 

"No  writer  of  children*!  book*,  not  even  the  renowned  Fetor 
few  •*»  bwn  to  i  amMful  u  Abbott." 


jBoeJcS  Published  by  Sheldon  t£  Company 

ITKY7  JUYBITILB  BOOKS," 

To  be  ready  early  in  the  coming  FM. 


A  NEW  SERIES  BY  AUNT  FANNY, 

Author  of  "  Nightcap,"  "  Mitten,"  and  "  Pet  Booki.1* 

THE  POP-GUN  STORIES. 

In  6  vols.  16mo.,  beautifully  illustrated.  ( 

I.— POP-GUNS. 
II.— OXE  BIG  POP-GUK 
III.— ALL  SORTS  OP  FOP-GUSTS. 
IV.—FUNNY  POP-GUNS. 
Y.— GRASSHOPPER  POP-GUNS. 
YL— POST-OFFICE  POP-GUNS. 

Aunt  Fanny  is  one  of  the  most  successful  writers  for  obfldrwi 
In  this  country,  as  is  attested  by  the  very  wide  sale  her  pre- 
vious books  have  had,  and  we  foel  sure  that  the  mere  announce- 
ment of  this  new  series  will  attract  tho  attention  of  her  host  al 
kduiirers. 


A  NEW  SERIES  BY  T.  S.  ARTHUR, 

Author  of  "  Household  Library,"  and  "  Arthur's  Juvanil* 
Library." 

H.OME    STORIES. 

3  vols.,  IGmo.,  fully  iUustraUd. 

LIST   OF   VOLUMES. 
HIDDEN  WINGS. 
BOWING  THE  W7XD. 
SUNSHINE  AT  HOME. 

Th»  n»me  of  this  Author  is  a  sufficient  Guarantee  of  th*  n 
eellcuco  of  the  Series. 


Jtooks  Published  by  Sheldon  d  Co. 

THE    BRIGHTHOPE    SERIES. 

By  J.  T.  TROWBRIDOB. 


The  Old  Battle  Ground, 
Father  Brighthope, 


Iron  Thorpe, 
Burr  CM. 


Heai  is  and  .Faces. 
6  Yols-     18mo,  in  cloth,  gilt  back,  uniform.    Prio»  $1  ou 

From  the  Boston  Transcript. 

"  Mr.  Trowbrfdge  has  never  written  anything  that  was  not  popular,  an  I 
each  new  work  has  added  to  his  fame.     He  has  a  wonderful  faculty  at 
ft  portraver  of  New  £nglaud  characteristics,  and  New  England  eceut*." 
From  the  Salem.  Register. 

"Mr.  Trowbridge  will  find  many  welcomersto  the  field  of  anthorshlf 
•I  ofUn  a*  he  chooser  to  enter  it,  and  'o  leave  as  pleasant  a  record  behind 
him  aa  th«  story  of  "  t  ather  finghthope."  The  "  Old  Battle  Ground"  i» 
worthy  of  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  very  bent  portrayen  of  K*w  Cn^ 
lead  character  and  describers  of  Xe\v  Eugland  i 


THE    GELDART    SERIES. 

By  Mrs.  THOMAS  GELDART. 

6  Tola.     16mo.     Illustrated  by  JOHN  GlLBJCtfc 

Price  of  each  60  cents. 


Daily  Thoughts  for  a  Child, 
Truth  is  Everything, 
Sunday  .Morning  Thoughts, 


Sunday  Evening  Thongnt^ 
Emilie  the  1'eaoemaji.er. 
cotland 


From  the  Boston  Register. 

"  These  charging  volumes  are  the  much  admired  Geldart  Series  of 
books  for  tbe  young,  which  have  established  a  very  enviable  repuUtion 
la  England  for  their  wholesome  moral  tendency.  They  are  beautifully 
printed  16mo  volumes,  with  gilt  backs,  and  are  sold  at  50  cent»  eacb. 
l"hore  are  five  volumes  in  the  scries,  and  they  will  form  a  rery  choios  ad' 
iiliou  to  a  youth's  library." 

From  tht  Worcester  Palladium. 

"  What  children  read  they  often  long  retain;  therefore  it  is  dcstrahlt 
that  thttlr  books  should  be  of  a  high  moral  tone.  In  skis  respect  Mrs. 
Guldart  has  few  equals  as  an  author,  aud  we  hope  that  her  works  wii  l^ 
found  iu  or«r/  oliUJ's  library." 


Books  Publis7ied  by  Sheldon  &  Company. 

HOLLO'S  TOUR  IN  EUROPE. 

BY  JACOB  ABBOTT, 

iatiior  «f  U»«  "Roilo  Books,"  "  Florence  Stories,"  "  AmerioM 
Histories,"  &c.,  ic. 

OEDEK    OF   THE   VOLUMES. 

HOLLO  OX  THE  ATLANTIC. 
HOLLO  IN  PARIS. 
HOLLO  IN  SWITZERLAND. 
HOLLO  IN  LONDON. 
HOLLO  ON  THE  RHINE. 
HOLLO  IN  SCOTLAND. 
HOLLO  IN  GENEVA. 
HOLLO  IN  HOLLAND. 
HOLLO  IN  NAPLES. 
„  HOLLO  IN  ROME.  - 

Each,  volume   fully  illustrated. 
Price  per  vol.,  90  cents. 

Mr.  Abbott  is  the  most  successful  writer  of  books  lor  too 
young  in  this,  or  perhaps,  any  other  country.  "  HOLLO'S  Toum 
IN  EUROPE,"  is  by  far  the  greatest  success  of  any  of  Mr. 
Abbott's  works. 

From  the  New  York  Observer. 

"  Mi.  Abbott  is  known  to  be  a  pure,  successful  and  useful 
writer  for  the  young  and  old.  He  is  also  the  most  popular 
Author  of  juvenile  books  now  living." 


Books  Published  by  Sheldon  efc  Company. 

ROLLO'S  TOUR  IN  EUROPE. 

BY  JACOB  ABBOTT, 

A-Qthor  of  tho  "  Hollo  Books,"  "  Florence  Stories,"  "  Amerfear 
Histories,"  &c.,  ic. 

ORDER    OP   THE   VOLUMES. 

HOLLO  ON  THE  ATLANTIC. 
HOLLO  IX  PARIS. 
EOLLO  IN  SWITZERLAND. 
HOLLO  IN  LONDON. 
EOLLO  ON  THE  RHINE. 
EOLLO  IN  SCOTLAND. 
EOLLO  IN  GENEVA. 
EOLLO  IN  HOLLAND. 
EOLLO  IN  NAPLES. 
EOLLO  IN  ROME. 

Kacli  volume  fully  illustrated* 
Price  per  vol.,  90  cents. 

Mr.  Abbott  is  the  most  successful  writer  of  books  for  tha 
youri£  ra  this,  or  perhaps,  any  other  country.  "  ROILO'S  Tour 
IN  EUHOPE,"  is  by  far  the  greatest  success  of  any  of  ilr. 
Abbott's  works. 

From  the  New  York  Observer. 

*  Mr.  Abbott  is  known  to  be  a  pure,  successful  antf  useful 
writer  for  the  young  and  old.  Ho  id  also  the  moet  popultf 
Author  of  juvenile  books  now  living." 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last 
date  stamped  below 


MM  2  8 


JIM  1  8 

MAR  171981 


3m-8,'49(B 


THE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

The  Dove 


animals 


8  1951 


QL 

791 

L72 


111 


L72  W\    000479237    0 


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